Halford & Brough in the Morning - Which Canuck Has The Most Pressure On Them Next Season?

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

In hour two, guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe & Brendan Batchelor do some Ask Us Anythings and discuss which Canucks will be under the microscope the most this upcoming season (3:00), plus they chat with The Athletic's Rebecca Tauber (24:37) about how climate change has been negatively impacting outdoor sports. 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.

Welcome back to Halford and Bruff, Josh, Ollie, Wolf, Brendan, Bachelor filling in for Mike Halford and Jason Brope. We've got a dog. We've got Elon, not Eddie. Nobody would make that mistake. We're starting strong in hour two. We're putting hour one behind us. It's seven o'clock. It's a whole new, I can wake up at this time.

I'm used to seven o'clock. Anything before seven is not real. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Fobware and Orthotics, working together with you in step. You can text in 650-650 on the Dumbar Lumber text line, Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DumbarLumber.com.

And Halford and Brough is brought to you by Sands & Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 five-star reviews, visit Sands-Trustee.com. We have been flooded with Ask Us Anythings. It's amazing. We appreciate it. Keep them coming in, 650, 650. On the Dumbar Lumber Text text line. We're gonna hit a bunch here as we have an open segment before 730 but we'll start with this one Justin and East Van ask us anything Have you ever tried a screamer mixing ice cream with a slurpee? I Haven't I was suggesting that as like a new dude soda Off off brand or a new launch thing that Randy could do but I guess

it already exists. Apparently it's already a thing. Andy this feels like something you would have tried. You guys have never had a screamer? No. Andy you must have had one. Sorry I was. A screamer is a slurpee with ice cream. Oh yeah. Delicious. How do you so- Do you get the slurpee and then go home and put the ice cream in or is no it's already it's made for you Oh, it's layered. Hold on. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. No, I've never had one. Does 7-eleven do this specifically? Oh husky used to do it. Oh, I used to get a man Danny screamers in Steve's them. Okay, there you go It's all a solid screamers of Danny screamers. Really? Yes. Yeah. No, it's on brand Good for me. I'm gonna add that to my summer list of things to do or places to visit there.

Yeah. Danny's screamers. In Steve's den. Okay, let's go. Have fun. Go visit iMac while I'm out there. Yeah I'll have to try one. I've never I've never tried one 650 650 Dunbar lumber text line this one Mike the urologist from Brockville. What is the goat summer sandal? Give some options here. So there's flip-flops Birkenstocks slides the the strappy ones or other and He says he asked because he'd always thought of Birks as old people sandals because his mom wore them But seems like young people wear them more now or I'm just old myself or both Yeah, I'm personally not a Birks guy. I'm currently wearing Berks.

Oh, there you go. I'm a choice. I'm a I was always a flip flop guy and I've recently become more of a slide guy. I will say I was more of a flip flop guy before and then I was like, you know what? It's it's time to move on and I moved on to Birkenstocks and I haven't looked back.

I don't get the the name brand Birkenstocks though. I get the ones that are like from winners and cheaper and comfier. So yeah, to me though, like a, uh, if we're talking about the goat summer sandal, it has to be something you can wear to the beach. It has to be something you can wear on a patio. It has to have, you know, it has to be an all terrain sandal. If you want to call it that, I don't know if, you know, are you wearing, maybe maybe I'm wrong are you wearing your Berks to the beach I do but he definitely got to like dry your feet before putting them back in the sandal

yes like slides for the beach or or flip-flops right like you could take your flip-flops in the water and who cares they're gonna they're gonna dry off afterwards if you're sticking your toes in the sand or whatever so I probably fall to the old standard flip-flop on this one, but I could see an argument for slides as well. I'm not there with Berks. Fair. They're comfy though. I'd recommend them.

Oh, I absolutely believe they're comfy. I've just, are they a good sandal? Yes. Are they the greatest of all time summer sandal? Probably not. Fair enough. Scott and Suri, who is your prediction to score the Canucks first goal of the regular season? So we're gonna, we're each

gonna throw a name out. I'm gonna make Andy do it, I'm gonna make Elon do it, Eddie can come in and do it if he wants, and we will stick to it. It's completely random. We don't know who's gonna score the first goal. Someone has to. I don't know if there are odds on who would score the first goal. It was Daniel Sprong last year. Was it actually? It actually was. Wow.

Yes. Okay. So who do you think it's gonna be? I'm gonna go with Kiefer Sherwood. Okay. I feel like, you know, he's a guy that'll be shot out of a cannon, night one. He had such a great offensive year last year that it would be great for him to start the year well So keep for sure what is my pick for the Canucks first goal scorer of the season a dog? Thatcher Demko

Unusual start to the year for the Canucks, but it'll be good No, no seriousness, and I'm just saying this because I want to channel positivity for the player because so much of the Canucks' success or hopeful success this coming season hinges on how he plays is Ilyas Pettersson. EP 40 specifically. That's a couple of them now. The best case scenario. EP 40 gets the first goal of the Canucks' season and goes on after a great year and the Canucks make the playoffs.

I mean, I hate to put the pressure all on one guy and And I guess some of it goes on to Demko as well, because if he bounces back and has a Vezna caliber season, they're a very, very good team. But more so than Demko, I say EP 40, like he has to have a bounce back here and play up to his contract and up to his potential, become a hundred point player again, hopefully. If he can do that, this is a very, very good Canucks team.

If he can't do that, they might be in trouble. Elon? I'm going Jake DeBrusk. OK. I think he'll be a little more comfortable this season, coming in. You know, he knows his line mates. Petey will set him up.

And he's netting that first goal. Not going to be a slow start for DeBrusk this season. Going to be a hot start for DeBrusk. I'm going, I'm going Besser. Just I feel like that might be the odds on favorite, I guess, just based on goal scoring capability. But I don't know. I just feel new contract bump, narrative street, going Brock Besser.

Yeah, okay, fair enough. Now, not to be a downer on this conversation or flip it the other way, but was that Louis Erickson own goal into his own net in the first game of the season? I think it was. Yes, it was was so do we have to distinguish between which net the puck is going to go into we'll say first goal for the Vancouver Canucks that is counts for the Vancouver Canucks yeah not not that I'm expecting an own goal in game one but it

wouldn't be the first time who's the most likely to score an own goal in game one well probably That wouldn't be the first time. Who's the most likely to score an own goal in game one? Well, probably Thatcher Damko. So probably Thatcher Damko. I mean, maybe Elias Patterson if it's. Could you imagine the like panic if Elias Patterson scores on his own net? It's going to be a long year, boy. Oh, nuts.

It's happening again. 650, 650, Dunbar Lumbertex line, ask us anything. Dennis from Langley. What odds would you put on the Canucks making a significant trade? This offseason. So first let's outline the definition of significant. I would say a top six forward or top four defenseman, uh Slim in terms of acquiring one of those players like I likeiring one. Like a hockey trade, like player for player. Because nobody wants prospects and picks.

That's the problem, right? Exactly. There's no sellers other than the Penguins right now. So you got all these buyers that they don't want other teams' prospects and picks. They want players. But the teams are trading with like, well, we do as well. So that's what makes it so difficult, right? Yeah.

So I would say the odds are slim to none that they make a move that sees them acquire a top six forward or a top two pairing defenseman, what they're more likely to do. And, you know, who knows? I've said this now, maybe they're going to go and trade for Jason Robertson in half an hour and we'll spend the rest of the show talking about that. Who knows? Boy, that would be nice. They should do that.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. If Patrick Alveen, if you're listening, there you go. I mean, it gives us a lot of content. It would us a month sort of content that is that is literally the reason why we are pleading for him to do that here at 709 on a Friday morning, but all kidding aside I think it's more likely that we see them either make a bottom six center-ice signing or make a Trade where we see a middle six bottom six

winger leave in order to address the center-ice position. I'm not expecting, and this doesn't just apply to the Canucks, I'm not expecting many big blockbusters around the league the rest of this summer, let alone by the Vancouver Canucks themselves. If there is a team that would do it though, it's the Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen led Vancouver Canucks themselves. If there is a team that would do it though, it's the Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen led Vancouver Canucks. So the chances aren't zero, but they're not high.

It must drive JR nuts too, cause you know he's such a trigger finger guy. Like he just wants to make that deal so badly. Nobody's trading right now. It must be very aggravating. The one thing I will say though is while, while the lack of movement doesn't set us up well when we're doing summer radio here and give us things to talk about, I think we're going

to see more in-season movement because right now, what, I don't know, 29 of the teams in the NHL think they have a chance to make the playoffs. So once you get into the season and teams start to fall off, then we'll see teams be more willing to give up players for futures. And because most teams in the league still have cap space, because we're out of the flat cap era now and we're going to see that grow progressively over the next few years, it may not

make for a great summer of trades, but it could make for a good season and maybe more importantly, a good trade deadline, which is something we haven't had in a while. It's funny you say that because I hadn't even thought about that. I hadn't thought that far ahead. And you're right. This trade deadline could be insane because all of a sudden you have all these teams that have money, like you said, and you obviously will have teams that fall out and become sellers.

The trade deadline could be nuts. It could make up for this lousy summer of no trades. Trade deadline could be crazy. It's also the last year before the playoff salary cap stuff comes in with the new CBA, where there's going to be some cap restrictions on the roster you ice in the playoffs. So it's the last year that teams can really go all out and acquire players that might theoretically

put them over the playoff salary cap in future years It's just like this is our last year boys Well, I mean, you know all kidding aside with Vegas what's gonna happen with Alex Patrangelo this year, right? Like would you be entirely surprised if he misses the whole year and plays game one of the playoffs based on what they've done? I don't think I would this slide this one I think it would surprise me a little bit it It had more of the feel of like, he might just be kind of LTI retired at this point. We'll see. But it's Vegas.

Yeah, I guess because it's Vegas, it wouldn't- I don't trust them. They throw me off. They're tricky over there. We do. So I was hosting with Satyar Shah earlier in the week and we had a question come in asking how many trades we think are gonna happen over the offseason and so that's why we have this trade counter board over here. Yes we've got a white board here in the studio that has the number of NHL trades at four this summer. I'm assuming that's including the two deals that were made yesterday. Yes, I believe so. Should be.

But we set the over under at 15. And so it has to be, I think the- I would take the under on that. Yeah, the stipulation we put is it has to include like either picks and prospects or an NHL contract. Like it can't be an NHL player for an NHL player. We both said under, I said around 10, but we're already

at four and you know like I don't know. Things might happen. What is defined as the summer? Like are we going to once training camp starts? Okay if we're going to when training camp starts I it's gonna be close I maybe even over because training camps as we learned this week, by the way, the Canucks officially announced that the training camp is in Penticton. It's what, September 18th, I think it starts. So because of the way that Labor Day falls,

Labor Day is literally September 1st this year, if I'm not mistaken. So everything's a little bit later than normal, which means there's more time for teams to make trades in that window. If we're going all the way up to September 18th, let's say, then I think it'll be really close to 15 because you often see a flurry of pre-camp movement where teams get a real look at their depth charts, realize where they have holes, realize where they have surpluses

and could move guys out. And then you also have the pressure point of guys that are going to need to go through waivers through camp, maybe being traded. Like we've talked a lot about Archer Shilov's and the likelihood that he's going to be moved. So if we're going all the way to September 18th, I might be tempted to take the over, especially with us being at four trades already on July 11th, 7-11 today. Yeah, I'm still going under.

I believe in NHLGM's abilities to do nothing. They're so good at it. They can keep doing it. I hope they don't. I hope I'm wrong, but I just feel like it's going to be under. 650, 650, Greg on Granville, ask us anything. Is there another NHL player who has more wildly different outcomes this upcoming season than Thatcher Demko? I truly think that he could either be a player that plays zero games, or he could get a Vezna,

a Kahn Smythe, and win the Stanley Cup, or every single other possible outcome in between those are all potential paths for him. Lowest of floors, highest of ceilings. That's from Greg on Granville. I was trying to think of someone and I just don't know if I could. Yeah, I mean obviously we're hyper focused on the Canucks in Vancouver so you know are there other players that are coming off injuries that you know you could say the same thing about? There might be. I think the interesting conversation here is how there might be. I think the interesting conversation here is how there might be two of the players that you could put in that category on the Canucks this year

in terms of range of outcomes. Because as we spoke about moments ago, I think there's a wide range of outcomes for Elias Pettersson and what this season looks like for him. So, you know, not to steal the line from Jim Rutherford, but, you know, we're very much back into the, if everything goes right, then this is a tremendous team, right? If Demko is Vesna caliber and healthy and plays well, if Pedersen gets back to being even a point of game player,

let alone a hundred point player, like he's been in the past, you know, that that would be tremendous for the Canucks. So, you know, unfortunately for Vancouver, that point about Demko having a wide range of outcomes also applies to the Canucks. Now, if things go right, then that'll work for them. And that wide range of outcomes, you know, could be very good and reach a high high, but there is also the built-in possibility there for there to be low lows

as well. And I think that's what a lot of Canuck fans are probably afraid of or a reason for caution heading into this season. And ultimately it'll be up to Demko to prove he can get back to that top level and stay healthy and for Pedersen to prove that he can get back to his top level as well. But you know, I was making this point on the station earlier this week. and for Pederson to prove that he can get back to his top level as well. But, you know, I was making this point on the station earlier this week. We spend so much time in the summer talking about, you know, oh, you know, where do they need

depth and man they could really use a middle six center to help sort of bolster their roster. Ultimately when it comes down to it at the end of the day, not to put too much pressure on one or two guys, but it almost doesn't matter if they get a third line center if Elias Pettersson can't get back to being Elias Pettersson or Thatcher Demko can't get back to being Thatcher Demko. So those are the big storylines that obviously it's hard to analyze in the summer because nothing's happened yet. So all we could go on is we hear Demko's healthy. We hear Pettersons having a good summer. Those are both positive signs, but once we get into the season, those two guys are going to be under the microscope to an extreme degree and it'll be up to them to show whether they can deliver.

Next one from Sean, Ask Us Anything. Batch, who was your idol in play-by-play growing up and how did they inspire you to pursue a career calling hockey game? Yeah, it started with Jim Robson, I think, which is anyone in Vancouver who, you know, followed the Canucks understood that Jim Robson was one of the best or in my opinion the best to ever do it. And I know Shorty always talks about growing up where the Canucks weren't a very good team, but the one thing you knew is that Jim Robson was great and he was always going to make the games entertaining and interesting to listen to thing you knew is that Jim Robson was great and he was always gonna make the games entertaining and interesting to listen to.

So it started with Jim Robson, but really, we've been spoiled for choice in terms of quality play-by-play guys in this market. Jim Hueson, John Shorthouse, Rick Ball is someone I was a big fan of as well. So it started with Jim Robson, but as our listeners will be able to agree and attest to we've been very lucky here in Vancouver to have excellent play-by-play guys and and they all impacted and influenced me and

Motivated me to try and follow in their footsteps and then Sean adds on at what age did you realize you had a talent and could? Maybe make it to the NHL That's That's hard. So it wasn't something that I thought about doing until I was sort of coming to the end of high school and graduating. When I was a kid, I would do play-by-play for fun. So playing road hockey, I'd do the play-by-play.

Playing the NHL video game, I'd do the play-by-play. But it was always like... I'm sure that's probably very common for Canadian kids. Exactly. But for me, it was always like, oh, I Canadian kids exactly But for me it was always like oh, I'm playing I'm having fun Yeah And then coming through high school where they're starting to be like you got to think about what career you want to do or what? School you might want to go to and I was I was thinking about these things I was like, oh wait a minute. I have fun doing that and that's technically a job

Maybe I should just try and do that. That would be a ton of fun so, you know when I first thought about it as a realistic career option was probably late high school. And then, you know, coming through BCIT and working on it and understanding that I had a passion for it is probably when I first sort of thought, okay, I'm going to really chase this and try and do it for a career. So late teens, early 20s is probably when it really became a realistic career goal for me. Mine is, so I had the same thought going into BCIT. I was like, oh, I'm going to do play

by play. This would be so cool. And then I went to BCIT and I was like, man, there's a lot of dudes here who want to do play by play. And I didn't, I didn't have to drive. And not a lot of jobs. Not a lot of jobs. And I was like, I don't know if I want to tough it out on the road on a bus for that long. And then I got a job here at 650. And I was like, I don't know if I want to tough it out on the road on a bus for that long. And then I got a job here at 650 and I was like, you know what, this is pretty cool too. I'll stay here and try to work my way up.

So I ditched the play-by-play dream, but you stuck with it. Batch when you're watching other sports, doesn't have to be hockey. Are you kind of analyzing the play-by-play guys? Like, oh, that was a great line or he should have said this. Absolutely.

Can you sit back and enjoy the game? Yeah, I can do both, but I think I will recognize excellent play by play when I see it. And I think this is something I like, I talk about when I go to talk to kids at BCIT about it as well. I think as a broadcaster, you want to expose yourself to broadcasters that you think do a really good job because then that's gonna Subconsciously positively influence you in the way that you broadcast as well So, you know if there are broadcasters where I don't like their style or it's it's not my kind of vibe or I think they Don't do a great job. I try to avoid

Listening to them because I don't want it to have like a subconscious negative impact on me But absolutely absolutely you know you can recognize the the best play-by-play voices in any sport when you're watching them and it's something that I think just like anyone that watches sports you're gonna have your own opinions about the broadcasters and the the presentation and the product and and that's something that certainly applies to me as well. What is your, outside of hockey, favorite and least favorite radio specifically, not TV, radio play-by-play? Me personally, I've always loved baseball

radio play-by-play. I find it very relaxing and like alternatively basketball play-by-play. For some reason, I've never been able to get into it. NBA radio play-by-play, and I just remember this when I used to cut audio a lot at 1040, like the reports and stuff. I don't find it translates as well. I don't think it's the other the playboy play guys themselves. They sound fine I just don't find that sport translates super well to radio and I struggle with that one So for me for me baseball and basketball are like the polar opposites. Well, what do you find? Yeah, well and Similarly to you. I worked in production and as an op at 1040 as well coming through So you're exposed to a lot of these things because you'll be the person producing them.

So I agree. Baseball has always been a good radio sport and I have a ton of respect for baseball radio announcers in particular, cause there's a lot of dead time that you have to fill. Well, that's part of why I like it. It's so much, so relaxing. Yeah. It's just such a chill experience. But I would imagine it's much more challenging than calling hockey.

Cause my job is to show up and just be like, this what I saw I'm gonna tell you as opposed to like well we've got five minutes of dead time to fill here so I'm gonna tell you about the shortstop and this thing that happened to him when he was 17 years old. Improv some random story. I'm sure the prep they must have to do is ridiculous because some of the stories they come up with are tremendous so I have a ton of respect for baseball announcers. Basketball doesn't translate as well. I agree tennis is kind of a tough one too. Yeah, where like I think on 1040 we used to run like Wimbledon sometimes and and they would be kind of quietly doing the play-by-play while while it's happening and it doesn't really translate.

It's much better on TV where the announcers lay out and then provide analysis after the rally has happened. A sport I do like on the radio though for for the same reason you mentioned baseball, is golf. Which is something that you don't necessarily think would translate, but you listen to like the British Open. Yeah, it's good. And it's like, you know. They use a lot of ambient noise too, which is really nice.

And they're very descriptive too. They'll be like, he steps over his pot wearing the, you know, the blue trousers with the patterned shirt, the wind blowing from left to right. He should call a Canucks game like that. Goes wistfully through the trees in the background. Yeah, exactly. If there's a Canucks game on April 1st next season, gotta check the calendar.

Do the full call in golf style. Exactly. And Pedersen picks up the pocket center. Skating wistfully through the neutral zone, yeah. He scores. It was a nice goal. 650, 650, Dumbar lumber tax line. Keep the text coming in there.

Ask us any things we will hit throughout the show. Before we go, the bank has a plan for your mortgage renewal. But do you have a plan with over 30 years of expertise as a mortgage broker, Jason Hominick at jason.mortgage knows how to shop all the lenders to get you the right mortgage renewal that truly fits your needs. So don't just automatically sign that bank renewal letter.

Instead, visit jason.mortgage and let Jason do all the hard work for you. Visit jason.mortgage.today. That's not.ca or.com, but jason.mortgage. It is Halford, Halford, not Hal CA or dot com, but Jason dot mortgage. It is Halford or Bruff. It is Halford and Bruff, but it is neither Halford nor Bruff today. It's Josh Elliott-Wolfe. It's Brendan Batchelor filling in on the morning show.

Rebecca Tauber from The Athletic joins us next on Sportsnet 650. Welcome back to Halpern & Brough. Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Brendan Batchelor filling in for Halford & Bruff this morning. We are coming to you live from the Kintex studio and Halford & Bruff is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit Sands-Trustee.com. Keep the text coming in 650 650 on the Dumbar Lumber text line. You're ask us anythings, you're what we learned, we'll get to them as the show goes on. But right now we go to the hotline powered by Power West Industries and we welcome in Rebecca Talbur from the athletic, had a recent piece on extreme heat disrupting athletic events worldwide that we wanted to get into.

Appreciate you taking the time, Rebecca. How are you? I'm good, thanks for having me. So I mentioned the piece up at the athletic. What was the, what went into that for you? What kind of inspired you to dig deeper into this? So for the past couple of weeks, we've been seeing extreme heat all across you know North

America, disrupting sports. There's a lot going on. There's the club world cup. We're in the middle of baseball season. You know now we have tennis all this stuff and there were a lot of these like different types of incidents where heat was disrupting sports. You know players vomiting on the field, like spectators in the stands needing assistance, things like that. And so I wanted to kind of take a step back and look at the bigger picture and kind of ask the question of what are leagues, teams, et cetera, doing now

and are we prepared for the future? And what did you find in that regard? Are we prepared for the future? Are there things that teams and players could be doing? Are there some obvious measures that could be taken but aren't being taken yet? Or is there an understanding that this is going to become an increasing reality as we move forward here? So I think I found two things.

One is the entire world of kind of adaption to heat that's been happening for a couple years and that's happening in the moment. So there's heat acclimation. I talked to a professor who specializes in these things, you know, and this is like, there's all this technology now to track dehydration and reduce body temperature and all that stuff. He said, we're seeing more athletes use like heat acclimation techniques. So that's something we might think of, you know, historically cyclists, runners are doing, and now we're seeing soccer players, rugby players.

And then there's the whole world of infrastructure. So I talked to an environmental scientist who's worked with leagues and teams for a long time about how, you know, as we're building stadiums, building in more water stations, more retractable roofs, more shades, stuff like that. And so those are all things that are happening right now. But at least the environmental scientist I spoke to, who also told me he left a tennis match because he was afraid he was going to pass out recently. You know, he said he just doesn't think that we're ready. So there's all these things happening. But I mean, it's a massive

undertaking and it's not just in the sports world, right? It's being prepared for the future of climate change and I think something that's hanging over the heat conversation in sports this summer, especially in North America, it's not just what's happening now, but we have the World Cup next summer and then we have the 2028 Olympics. And so I definitely think that's top of mind as well while we're seeing the heat play out right now. How do you think leagues adjust to this or do they adjust to this? Because I'm thinking for leagues like you know Major League

Baseball it might be tough right? Like you can't really move your schedule around but for a tournament like Wimbledon or you know some some of the golf events or individual events that could theoretically be moved a little bit easier than a full 162 game schedule, do you think we eventually kind of get to that point where things are being adjusted to maybe make it a bit easier temperature-wise? That's definitely what some athletes want. The International Football Global Players Union actually asked FIFA to reschedule midday and afternoon World Cup games to add in more breaks and then also to not play some of those games at the peak heat of the day.

And a couple of months ago there was a report that found some of those scheduled matches could be playing at times that could involve dangerous levels of heat. So that's definitely something that some people want. And we've seen this before, right? So the 2022 World Cup was moved from June, July to November, December to avoid the peak heat. Yeah, it was. And you alluded to it earlier,

but the World Cup will be in North America next summer The Club World Cup has been taking place this year almost as a trial run and You know when we talk about climate change, obviously, we're talking about rising temperatures and the heat here But we've also seen dramatic weather events impacting the Club World Cup like storms causing delays to games weather events impacting the Club World Cup, like storms causing delays to games. How worrying do you think that should be coupled with the heat for what is really one of the biggest showpiece international sporting events on the calendar around the world next summer that's going to be hosted here in the US and in Mexico and of course in Canada as well? Yeah, definitely.

I mean, I'd say for my piece, I pretty specifically focused on heat. So I can't really speak to, you know, are we seeing weather comes to, weather delays and rain, stuff like that, like more or less than typical things like that. But I talked to a professor who kind of studies the intersection of sports and climate change.

And she said pretty definitively that just across the board, we're seeing more disruption to sporting events because of like weather and heat and stuff like that and we could expect to see that rise in the future and you know some people are like well what do you expect it's you know June July in North America of course it's gonna be hot but a meteorologist I spoke to said, it's not just that it's hot, but it's that we're seeing longer and hotter heat waves.

And so that's a big part of the challenge and that's causing a lot of this. Well, and touching on the fact that the World Cup in Qatar was moved to be a fall or winter World Cup, how much do you think, in particular, international governing bodies that, you know, award these events to host cities or countries like the World Cup, like the Olympics are going to have to make this a bigger part of their decision making process going forward.

It's not simply going to be who has the most money or who has the most infrastructure, but they might have to consider, hmm, there are certain parts in the world that we can only go to at certain times of year. Yeah. I mean, I didn't speak directly with any governing bodies for the story, but again, kind of like the experts that I spoke to all kind of agree. This is increasingly becoming a factor that you have to think about that you have to plan for, um, when hosting, you know, these major events,

but also you mentioned baseball, you know, these major events, but also you mentioned baseball, you know, just like one specific game here and there, you know, there's so many, you know, smaller governing bodies for sports that host, you know, major events and things like that in the summer. And it's something I think everybody's thinking about. So for the World Cup and for the Olympics in a few years as well, how prepared does it seem like at least the US is since they'll be hosting both of these events? That is a big question and I'm not entirely sure.

I think that we can look at what's happening now when we're seeing water breaks, we're seeing athletes and teams, you know, as I said, doing more of this heat acclimation, things like that. But then I think we also see with that letter I said, asking to reschedule games, people definitely feel like there's more to be done

to kind of plan ahead and think about the heat. Did any of the experts or the people you spoke to mention that some of these sports may need to go indoors to be sustainable full-time? Like we're so used to, you know, baseball, there are indoor stadiums and outdoor stadiums and stadiums with retractable roofs, but might we see more sports be forced to play in stadiums and stadiums with retractable roofs, but might we see more

sports be forced to play in stadiums or in places where there is at the very least a retractable roof if not fully indoor venues in the near or distant future? The fully indoor piece didn't come up, but the environmental scientist I spoke with who has worked with teams and leagues a lot, definitely said, um, you know, retractable roofs are a thing that, you know, when you're building a stadium is like increasingly being thought about, um, that's when it comes to new infrastructure, right? But then we also have all this old infrastructure and all these

existing fields and stadiums. And so there's also a question there of how do you kind of retrofit and build in for that and like water stations, things like that. I think there used to be a time, you pay $7 for a water ball or something in a game and he would say, kind of this effort towards more water stations, stuff like that. But yeah, you can kind of build in for that

if you're building something now, but then there's the question of all the infrastructure that we already have. Hey, Rebecca, we really appreciate you taking the time. It was a really interesting piece and all the best moving forward. Thanks for having me. Have a good day. There is Rebecca Tauber from the athletic and you can read the

piece up. It's extreme heat is disrupting athletic events worldwide. Worldwide is sports ready for the future. And it's interesting, right? Like it's a, it's not something we really think about often, I guess I would say, but it is becoming something that's a little more prevalent around sports. Like even though I was watching the Blue Jays game

the other day and the white Sox pitcher, Hauser came out to pitch I think it was a second inning and then he kind of ran back into the clubhouse and threw up and then came back out and Dan Schulman was like well it's pretty humid and hot in Chicago today and that's probably the reasoning and look it affects the players it also affects people in the stands too like Like it's, it can be difficult, especially for more elderly fans to be sitting in a baseball stadium or sitting, watching Wimbledon in direct sun for multiple hours.

And it's getting warmer and warmer as years go on. It's becoming more of a challenge and maybe something that's more at the forefront of everyone's mind as well. It's it's becoming more of a challenge and maybe something that's more at the forefront of Everyone's mind as well. Yeah, we're seeing some sports start to adapt to this like, you know, for example in soccer They will now have cooling brakes in the game if if they're playing above a certain temperature So the game will stop specifically so players can go to the sidelines get some water if there are other measures They can use to cool sidelines, get some water. If there are other measures they can use to cool down, like Rebecca alluded to, they will do that.

I think it's also interesting, and this wasn't something she specifically looked at in her piece, but we spend so much time talking about hockey. Hockey's played on ice, which obviously requires you to have a good ice plant, but it also requires you to keep your building at a certain temperature to keep the quality of the ice. And the NHL has been really aggressive in the past 30 years or so expanding into non-traditional markets.

Some of those markets where the temperature gets pretty hot. And when you're playing, and obviously it wasn't an issue or we didn't hear about it being an issue this year, but when you're playing NHL games in places like Florida or Los Angeles, potentially into May or June, you do wonder if the integrity of the ice is going to be an increasing issue. I mean, the, the Calder Cup final was in Charlotte as well. So as hockey has expanded into some of these markets, you do wonder if the heat is going

to impact quality of ice at certain times of year going forward too. And then that follows up with the question, we've talked about the World Cup in Qatar was moved to November, December. Might some of these other events have to move their days. You do wonder if heat, even though hockey is an indoor sport, may end up impacting the NHL schedule to some degree in terms of, you know, the NHL realizing that maybe June

is a little bit too late to be playing the Stanley Cup final if the integrity of the ice could potentially be at stake in some of the biggest games that you're going to play. I've got an ask us anything for you guys. Would you rather sit at, let's say a baseball game mid 30 degrees Celsius, or would you rather be an NFL game where it could be possibly wind chill up to negative 20? I mean, I'm going with the, I'm going with the baseball game because like in terms of like what I would prefer to do. Okay, but just let's say it's the same game, right?

Let's say, you know, take the sport out of it. Would you rather be... Oh, yeah, sorry. This is like a would you rather be too warm or too cold kind of conversation. I'd rather be too warm. I'd rather be too cold. Really? Yeah, Sam, I hate the heat.

You can always dress for the cold, but when it's hot, it's hot. Nothing you can do about it. You can't escape the heat. Yeah. I've lived in, you know, minus 40 climates. Like I'm in some really cold weather when I lived in Kamloops and you just bundle up warm and yeah, it's not fun to be out in the cold, but if you dress appropriately, you could survive it.

Whereas man, when it's like, if it hits mid to high 30s, hell even 40, oh, awful. So a few years ago, I think it was pre-COVID. I went to Atlanta because my wife has some family in Georgia. And we went to a Braves game because the Blue Jays were playing. And it was a day game. And it was the hottest day of the year in Atlanta, which for us from here is like, that's crazy.

That's silly. I think it was almost 40 degrees Celsius. And we were in the Elkfield. There was no shade and it sucked, I'm not gonna lie, but I do think it was more bearable, I guess, than being in like negative 40, I would say. For me personally, just a personal preference.

Well, I mean, if you're at an outdoor event in minus 40, that wouldn't be fun, even if you are dressed warm. You're not moving at all, so that's not gonna either way they both yeah both of them are bad they're both bad I just think there's more you can do about the cold than there is about the heat yeah yeah sure I will say we were like so we were in the outfield and every time the Braves get a strikeout they have a fountain in the outfield that like spurts up and there was a very slight breeze that would blow the

water slightly onto us as like a mist. I had never cheered for more Blue Jay Strikouts in my life. It was tough. But every time it happened, it was great. Such a relief. Yeah. It's a tough reality that I think we're all going to have to come to terms with in general as people that live on this planet, but certainly the world of sports aren't going to have to come to terms with in general as people that live

on this planet, but certainly the world of sports aren't going to be immune. And that's something that Rebecca really highlighted well in her piece at the athletic. Six fifty, six fifty. Ask us anything's coming in there. Let's try to hit a few before we speak to the Moj on the other side of the break. This one Woodrow, the eligible bachelor, ask us anything. If a vending machine mistakenly dispenses two items is it unethical to take both I don't think so you're obligated yeah you're even looking for the next person. I would judge you if you didn't yeah like what's wrong with you

it's a machine it's not gonna take a return yeah it's that you're not hurting its feelings well and and in the in the example of a vending machine specifically, it's not like there's some small business owner that has two vending machines and they need it to feed their family. Like it's probably a big vending machine corporation that's raking in lots of dollars. And also... This was texted in by big vending, I think. Yeah, exactly. But also...

Big vending. How many times have you put money into a vending machine and the thing gets stuck and in fact you don't get your treat So I think much like we talk about violent I've ever gotten is Especially when you're like at the point of desperation where it's not even like you just want something from a vending machine You need something. Oh, what a whole is that candy from you're like, alright crime time. Yeah Yeah, there's glass on this and I'm gonna break it. you, you're like, all right, crime time. Yeah. It's crime time now. There's glass on this and I'm going to break it. Yeah.

You're going to call the cops on me and I fully expect that. But anyway, I guess my point is that much like in sports, we talk about the bounces or the calls even out over the course of a season. Over the course of your lifetime, yeah, you're going to have the odd time where you don't get a snack from the vending machine and you're going to have the odd time that you get two. It probably evens out, which means it evens out financially for the people running vending machines as well. So there's no reason to have any guilt.

Big vending, exactly. Scott. Big vending has gotten to batch. Yeah. Batch is like, actually we should only give money to vending machines and hope it gets stuck. Yeah, yeah, we don't need the product in there. Scott and Poco, morning guys,

what's your favorite food item at Rogers Arena, press box, or not? So this is actually a much more controversial question than it sounds. It might be the only reason I go to games. So this is a little bit of inside baseball behind the scenes. In the broadcast booth, we usually

are brought a snack or a food item in the second intermission of games. And, you know, it's usually a different food item every game, or there's a rotation of food items that we get. And it's what two or three seasons now, I think that we, those of us at 650 that work in the gondola, so you know, myself, Randee, or whoever's doing the color with me that night, and our production staff have a whiteboard in there and we do a food ranking of the snacks we get throughout the year and at the end of the year we have an overall ranking of what was the best snack and how many times did we get this and that.

And I have never seen anything get more heated in our broadcast gondola than arguments over which food should be ranked where. So, you know, people have very differing opinions that are very passionate about opinions. I've never had more arguments about how good grilled cheese is or isn't than I have at Roger's Arena. I will say having worked both sides of it,

I think you guys get a little screwed. The press box has better food. Does it? Yeah. I always thought it was like ice cream, is it not? Well, I'm just just talking not just the meal Oh the meal meal, but then also like the stuff in the intermissions like yeah I I remember having like whenever I would do the games like on your guys's side be like oh, man

I got actually like go and get food now, and there's like I just kind of scrounge stuff together. It was in the press box You're spoiled. It's just it's right there. Well. We can walk across to the press box and get that meal to Too lazy and don't go far away across to the press box and get that meal too. We are way too lazy and we don't do it. So far away. See, so the reason it gets heated is because Batch does this thing where he's like, I'm here every game. So final say goes to Brendan Batchley. That's not true. You 100% have done that. You 100% have done that.

No, what I have... Batch pulling the ring. Well, okay. Here is the thing though. I am the only person at 650 that is there for every single game. That's so you have a unique perspective. I do have a I have a unique perspective because I get to try all the snacks. Some people come in and like they've only had half of them, so they don't have the full perspective. But I will never like if I am voted down, I never go against that.

So like one of the biggest debates is, you know, we sometimes get white spot burgers or we sometimes get Panago pizza. And it is a back and forth as to which goes top of the list. Those are both great. Exactly. And oftentimes it depends on like, oh, was the pizza hot or cold tonight?

Were the burgers fresher? Had they been sitting around for a while before they got to us, you know? Like those will be the difference makers in terms of where they get voted. But like let's say Josh is at a game and he wants to vote pizza top because we got pizza that night and it was really good. But I had the burger two games ago and I thought that was better. If I get out voted by Josh and Randee or whoever's there calling the color, I'm not going to go against that. I just know that I'm going to have an opportunity to put pizza back at the top of the list the next time,

or burgers back at the top of the list the next time that they come around, because I'm the only one that's there every single game. So ultimately it probably ends up being more of a reflection of what I think of the food at the end of the season, because I'm the person there most consistently, but we are a democracy. I'm just the most active participant in that and that's be fair I mean they treat us very well there it's good oh it's

tremendous yeah I mean that's a great great value value for the food as well for the dinners there there is no bad food that we get to be clear it's just about ranking them and deciding which we like most but we are very lucky they treat us very well there and we we have a variety of most, but we are very lucky. They treat us very well there and we have a variety of delicious things, but we haven't answered the question yet. So for me, it's the pizza that we get at Rogers Arena that when the pizza is really good, it is really good. I'm a no AJ's though.

No, absolutely. I think AJ's needs to expand into Rogers Arena and have a little setup. I would absolutely advocate for that. Because I'm amazing. Unbelievable. It would be tremendous. Unbelievable, it would be tremendous. Cause I'm always pro burger, but that could change my mind. Cause I'm, anytime I go there, I'm like, you know what? The burgers have to be number one.

No, I agree, like I love pizza. I would probably pick a white spot, not probably, I would pick a white spot burger over Panago. Nothing against Panago, it's fine pizza, but if I had to choose between the two, white spot burger is just, it's up there as one of my favorite burgers. So I would absolutely pick that.

However, if you had AJ's in there, that would change things. That would take the cake from me. 100% Tatiana and Langley writing in on the Dunbar Lumber Text Line 650650, because we brought up grilled cheese. Grilled cheese is so good. Ask us anything. Do you like Kraft Singles or real cheese? And do you have it with Sriracha or ketchup or tomato soup?

Or what do you pair it with? So I am a real cheese with tomato soup. That is a classic. Josh is definitely a craft singles kind of guy. Let me tell you, I made the greatest grilled cheese of my life. Well, my wife made the greatest grilled cheese of my life a couple weeks ago. It was garlic butter instead of regular butter on both sides multiple kinds of cheeses real cheeses Gouda Cheddar and then tomato soup. Oh my god, that sounds me. It was really and like south fresh sourdough bread Whoo, it was awesome. So that's the ideal girl. Can I take from me? I don't love sourdough. I'm not a big oh Yeah, I know I'm not there with you. So most people love it. I don't know sourdough. I'm not a big sourdough guy. Yeah, I know. I'm not there with you.

Most people love it. I don't know what it is. Like a good spinach dip with your sourdough? I don't hate sourdough. I just find it overpowers what I'm eating a lot of the time and it's the first thing I taste. I don't like something that just overpowers everything else. I feel the same way about pesto.

I love pesto. I like it as well, but on certain things, it's too strong. Yeah, I can see that argument. Pesto is overpowering everything else. I like it as well, but on certain things, it's too strong. Yeah, I can see that argument. Pesto is overpowering everything else. By the way, sourdough with spinach dip is, in my opinion, the best thing to bring if you have to bring food to an event

or if it's a potluck or something like that. Because nobody will say no to it. It's a low effort thing, right? You don't have to cook anything. You go get a loaf. You cut it up. You get some spinach dip. And everybody is happy that you brought it.

Yeah, you look like the hero. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good call. 650 it up, you get some spinach dip and everybody is happy that you brought it. Yeah, you look like the hero. Yeah, it's a good call. 650-650 Dunbar Lumber Text Line. Keep the text coming in there. It is Halford and Brough without Halford and Brough. It's Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Brendan Batchelor. On the other side, Friday Regular, the Moj is going to join us. We'll talk BC Lions. And grilled cheese with Moj. I'm sure he has opinions on that. I bet he's got grilled cheese with Moj. I'm sure he has opinions on that. He's got grilled cheese thoughts.

Oh actually I should mention that so Moj not only wants but demands that you give him a food ask us anything at least once during his hit every Friday and I'm sure we have a few listeners Texted by now for Moj, but Moj food ask us anything is part of the hit. So okay We will we will feature that on the other side. It is Halferd and Braf on Sportsnet 650