Halford & Brough in the Morning - Whitecaps Gaffer Vanni Sartini + What We Learned

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

In hour three, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Israel Fehr chat with Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini (1:11) ahead of their League's Cup matchup tonight versus Pumas at BC Place, the boys tell us what they learned (15:30), plus we hear from the humanoids (28:49). 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 Halpern and Ruff, your Sportsnet 650 with Jamie Dodd and Israel Thayer filling in for the week. Final hour of the show coming up here. Halpern and Ruff is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Halper Put a Number Up is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit campbell-pound.com. Tonight, we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec,

Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet. What are you waiting for? What we learned is coming up at 8.30, so send your submissions in, 650-650, to the Dunbar Lumber text line. But right now, we are very pleased to be joined from the Whitecaps. He's the manager of Whitecaps, Vanni Sartini, and his team's got a big game coming up tonight. So, Vanni, we really appreciate you taking some time

to chat with us this morning. How are you? I'm very good. How about you guys? We're doing very well. So it's the League's Cup match with Pumas tonight at BC Place. But to get into this match, you had the 3-1 win against Tijuana over the weekend. What went right for your team in that result?

I think we played very well, especially the second half. The first half was a little sleepy and we weren't able to do what we do normally, that is pressing very well, defending in a way that makes it difficult for the other team to progress the ball and winning the ball as high as we can on the pitch and then doing our, I would call direct attack, that is the most, I would say, effective way of playing that we have. So, you know, we need to, I would say, take the lesson and try to do it again tonight because, you know, Pumas is a very good team.

As you mentioned, Pumas, a good team, a Mexican side, the win on the weekend as well against a Mexican team. Are there any particular challenges playing against a team that you're maybe not as comfortable with or as familiar with compared to the teams that you face in MLS? Yeah, you know, they're a little, I would say, because they're not the classic Mexican team in terms of style. When we play teams from Liga Mekis, most of the time they are over-aggressive, they go man-to-man, they're trying to, I would say, win the game through the intensity.

Pumas is more of an organized type of team, very compact. But the challenges when you play a team from Liga MEC is that they all have really, really high quality players at the top. So any game, it's not over until it's really over. Our experience in the last two years when we played either in the Champions Cup or in the League's Cup Mexican team is always like you know games where they're very very very I would say hard and tight and where most of the time we've been the team that played better but they find I would say a fantastic goal or or or the beautiful shot from distance.

So we need to be really, really, really prepared to be on our top behavior in order to win the game. I think it's going to be a nice game tonight. Fafa Pico scores a goal against Tijuana, sets up a goal as well, and really for the last month or so, he's just been in an incredible run of form, very, very productive for your team. What's clicking for Fafapico right now? I don't know.

It's like I agree with you. He's probably the player that is in the better form at the moment and the guy that has been the most effective for us in the month of July and now early August. He started very well at the beginning of the season, then he had a little bit of a fitness problem, he had a problem on the back, so he was out for a couple of weeks. He came back and probably needed this time to get back in the shape and to go 100%. The other thing is that he's a player that, I would say, exploits a lot the fact when the team is playing well.

And it's an added value, I would say like this. He's not a guy that is going to bring the team up if the team is going down, but if the team is going well, he's the guy who's going to make you, I would say, become better because of his quality in the final third. And his form represents the form of the team this season.

You know, very good at the beginning, then a little down, and then very good again now. With a tournament competition like the League's Cup, it does give an opportunity to mix and match a little bit, to change the starting XI, to change the lineup.

Recently, a couple of youth players getting an opportunity to make their debut for the senior side. Do you view these extra matches as something where it's important to give those players that opportunity? Yes, yes. I think that, you know, we need to be very careful on how we use our roster because we cannot use all the players every time and then arriving at the end of

the season when the best players are tired or they cannot perform 100%. And having a competition that, you know, it's not the MLS where it's our, I would say, most important competition where we are that allow us to try and to see the depth of the roster. He's really good. So we, Isaac Bomer, our, let's call it backup goalkeeper, played very well in L.A. Bilal Albuni, he made two starts in a row and he never started a game before. Ralph Prizo started the last game. Tonight, I can tell you, Levante Johnson will start.

He didn't start so many games so far. So it's a good thing to, of course, try to win the game. That's the most important thing. But also to, I would say, have some answers from players that didn't play too much so far. You know, another part of that squad depth and the importance is, of course,

Ryan Gould out with injury right now and obviously one of your best players. First of all, what can you tell us about Gould's fitness and kind of when we might see him back on the pitch? And how have you approached it, you know, playing some games here without having Gauld available in your team? Yeah, so Ryan is getting back.

Let's say yesterday he trained fully with the team for the first time after three weeks. So he did, of course, all this step of the rehabilitation and then now he's ready to go at least for training. So, you know, I think it's close. I would say that I think if we qualify tonight and we win the next game would be next Monday. So in five days,

and I think that probably we would be able to play some minutes from the bench on Monday. So that's a very good news for us because it means that he will be back in full shape very soon. So that's really good. In terms of the way of playing uh you have to adapt a little because it's brian is such a unique player for us he can play in the 10 position that allow us to you know having always a guy to rely on on the side of the ball he moves a lot and with his

quality he's always the guy who rely who basically create the numerical superiority on the side of the ball. He moves a lot and with his quality, he's always the guy who basically creates the numerical superiority on the side of the ball. So it was very useful, in my opinion, to have that friendly game that we had with Wrexham, that it was like, of course, a party day and very nice for the fans. But for me, it was very good to understand that because we tried to play in the same way that we play with him,

but with different players, I realized that no one can, at least in this team, I would say replicate what Ryan does, even with less quality. And so we changed a little bit the way of attacking and instead of playing with a number 10 and a number 9 now we play always with with two strikers up front because you know that's the the best approach when he's not there. To that point if you're if you're learning that you know obviously Ryan is incredibly important player to the team He's someone that around the MLS is seen as one of the top players. When he's out, how does that change the way that you train or that you want the players to practice as you get prepared for games

where he's not available? Yeah, it changes away a little bit the task of the player on the field because, you know, you uh uh you you guys see so probably against Tijuana the attack sometimes becomes a little bit more direct because you don't have that that uh that guy that is going to be in between the line playing between midfield and and attack so we possess the ball slightly less. The two strikers need to play much more in combination, so whoever's going to play next to Brian White is going to be Levante.

But it's been Fafa for a couple of games. Today, Fafa will play White like a winger. So we need to work a lot on the combination play and to I would say also the occupation of the space in a certain way.

So like, you know, those are not having your DP, of course, force you to play in a different way. Like, you know, we missed Andres Cubas at our DP like in July because he went, sorry in June

because he went to the Copa America we didn't have him for five games if I remember well and of course when Pedro Vite moved from the number eight position to play number six instead of Andres, the characteristics are different.

So we were playing in a way that it was a little different offensively and defensively because the characteristics are different. And, you know, for these players that are designated players for a reason, it's clear that they bring something more to the team and when they're not there, all the team needs to work those maybe 5-10% more in order to make everyone forget they're not there. To be honest, they're doing very well because those five games that we played without Andres in June went very well, almost two points per game, nine points in five games, and these three games that so far, two games

that we played so far without Goldie, they went very well, but hopefully it's going to be back soon. As mentioned, your Whitecaps playing Pumas tonight at BC Place. What would you tell fans that they can expect from this matchup? It's going to be a very good game. I think it's going to be a really good game because we're going to play a very good team. They are second in the Liga Mequis now.

Quality is going to be good. And our team is in a good moment. And you saw it last Saturday against Tijuana. How good are we playing now? How good are we playing lately? Last Tuesday we tied in LA, but we basically won. We were winning until the last second. Before that we had in the last five, six games, we won four of them.

It's going to be exciting. And, you know, this is a competition that maybe until this round, everyone look at this competition like, eh, okay, it's somehow something just to give a pause to the league. But if we win today, we go to the round of 16, that is, and it becomes exciting because it means that the final is only three games away. Vanni, also

in addition to the game tonight, of course tomorrow is the close of the summer transfer window for the Canadian MLS clubs. Should Whitecaps fans expect any news before the window closes tomorrow? I think so. I think so. I think that there will be some official news maybe today, maybe tomorrow.

You know, as always, the front office has been very active. The scouts, Axel, Quinn, they've been very active to try to identify the right player for to improve the team and I think we're

very close to announce at least one and then you know I remember last year last year we signed two

players basically at the in the last day so I you know I don't want to say that they had expected Last year we signed two players basically in the last day. So I don't want to say that they had expected some last-minute thing this season, but everything can happen. The last day of the market is always very hectic. No doubt about it.

Vanni, thanks so much for doing this, and best of luck for your team against Pumas tonight. Thank you so much, guys. Thanks, Vanny. That is Whitecaps manager Vanny Sartini joining us here on Halford & Brough, looking ahead to the big League's Cup matchup against, as you said, Mexican side. Pumas tonight, 7.30 at BC Place, and then, of course, saying, yeah, there's been some rumors and reports out there. You know how it is with soccer, right?

The insider game in soccer always makes me laugh. The reports seem to be up there for so long before it's ever made official. But Vanny's saying there's going to be some official news. And maybe, who knows, maybe some surprise activity as well before the end of the transfer window for the Whitecaps. Halverton Brough here, Sportsnet 650. It's Jamie Dodd. It's Israel Fair.

Get your text in 650-650 to the Dunbar Lumber text line. What we learned is coming up at 830. And in fact, I'm going to kick it off right now with what we learned. We're going right into it. And mine kind of sports media related. So, of course, if you've been following the NBA TNT rights deal story, you know that probably the NBA is not going to be on TNT in the States anymore, right? They're trying to match the Amazon deal, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. And as part of this whole saga, Charles Barkley, of course, huge part of inside the NBA on TNT has said he's retiring. This was a couple

months ago, maybe a month ago or so, said, you know, you know what? I'm not going to go anywhere else. I don't want to do any other job. I'm just going to retire. I've got all the money in the world. I don't need to do this. Perhaps not surprisingly, Charles Barkley has now come out and said, actually, no, I'm not retiring. And not only that, I'm not going anywhere else. Amazon, if they're trying to poach me, if NBC wants me, I'm staying with TNT Sports, even if they don't have the NBA rights. And I say perhaps unsurprisingly, because if you follow some sports media reporters, this has been a tactic for Charles Barkley in the past, right? To kind of use his leverage, threaten to walk away, threaten to retire, get a little bit

of a better deal out of it for him it's worked in this case it does have me wondering though what is charles barkley's job going to be at tnt sports if they don't have the nba and therefore inside the nba i've seen some people suggest you know are they just going to do something called inside sports and just have like shack and and Kenny and Charles and EJ just shoot the breeze about sports generally at some point I mean I could see that working I gotta wonder as well the NHL on TNT is Charles Barkley gonna be like a semi-permanent part of NHL coverage in the states now I think it'll have to be a little bit different than his interview at the uh was it the Stanley Cup final where he may have had

a drink or two before he was on air. I don't know, man. He's Charles Barkley. I think he can get away with it if he wants. If he tells Turner, it's like, here's the deal, guys. I'll go on TV only after I've had a couple drinks. You've got the hammer, Charles. We're going to let you do it.

He's going to have to start watching a lot more hockey. I just love the idea of Charles Barkley tuning into a regular season, Columbus against Washington game, really doing his prep for the broadcast for Turner. He doesn't do that for March Madness. No, he doesn't. He's not going to do it for the NHL. Even in the NBA, they do the who he play for game.

Even in the NBA, there's lots he doesn't know. He does not follow closely about the NBA, they do the like who he play for game. So even in the NBA, there's lots he doesn't know. He does not follow closely about the NBA. So whatever. Why can't he do it for the NHL as well? So there you go. That's my what we learned. Charles Barkley not retiring. He is going to be involved in TNT sports coverage in some unnamed capacity going forward.

Give us a mook out there, Laddie. Dogs, you guys want to get in on this? No? Big shake of the head from Laddie. Hey, dog, you got anything to contribute? He's searching. He's scouring the web for content. Okay, we'll let Izzy go, and then we'll come back to you guys, okay? We'll see. We'll see. I thought for sure Greg was going to do this one, so now

I'm happy to be able to do this one. Vancouver Canadiens last night. They scored 19 runs is that good on a it's pretty good high a era record so that's just the last few years since they've been in in this new you know new level of the minor leagues but 20 hits uh to beat eugene last night at the nat that's uh that's getting your money's worth that's a good night at the net that that's that's a lot of runs. 19 runs on 20 hits. That's efficient.

Very efficient. They must have hit some out of the park. They hit a couple out of the park. Yeah. That's awesome. First of all, fantastic to go to the Nat and see a 19-2 win. One of the biggest changes for the positive of going from short season low A to high A is

there are just more guys who can hit home runs now. It used to be legitimately hard for the short season low a to high a is there are just more guys who can hit home runs now it used to be legitimately hard and for the short season guys the porch helps the porch is good but it used to be legitimately hard i think also like we're at sea level right it's a very it's a very picture marine layer that's right it's a very pitcher friendly park nat bailey so you didn't see a ton of home runs oh it's very rare you see more a lot more now uh like just the quality of play overall like 19-2 obviously not competitive but like the fact that they're capable of having that offensive that type of offensive explosion that was not a feature of the vancouver canadians

game when they were a short season uh single a side or short season low a side now at high a you got that extra pop. You got that extra juice. Have you seen this Peyton Williams guy they've called up? No. A big, big guy, big bat he hit, one of the homers yesterday. I'm trying to get what he's listed at, and I can't see it, but he's a large fella and a big lefty bat who can clear that huge right-field ball at Nat Bailey.

I've only seen that a couple times. He's listed at 6'6", 255 on Baseball Reference. Former 7th round pick. 6'6", 255. Yeah, he's a big boy, big lefty bat, and he clears that wall in right field, which, like you said, is nothing customary at Nat Bailey Stadium. No, very, very rare. They should

be adding some of the most recent draft picks, I would expect, from the Blue Jays as well. I know it always takes a little bit of time for them to send them down to Florida and get but get their bearings yeah for sure but especially if they draft from out of college maybe this will be their first stop so they should be getting some reinforcements i saw uh to sam brown who'd been a long time canadian got called up to new hampshire double a so they'll uh they'll need some some reinforcements good oakville boy yeah that's right good canadian i uh i got something in common with DeSan Brown.

You're just like him. I'm just as fast as him, too. You're just like him. Just as good at baseball. Don't let me show you how fast I am, but I'm just as fast as DeSan Brown. The two greatest athletes from Oakville. Take that, John Tavares. Greg Ballard and DeSan Brown.

Yeah, whatever. He's never won anything. Come on. Whatever. All right. Give us a mookow on that. I sent one to A-Dog I don't think he wants to do it You do it

Sorry I'm posting a video right now Oh he's actually doing work Are you posting our Sidney Crosby fan fiction out there For everyone to see I might be This was my one I sent to A-Dog And you'll soon know why What we learned the Arizona Cardinals are introducing

Some new food items to their stadium And they have introduced the Cotton candy burrito And this sounds right up A-Dog's alley It's the actual Tortilla itself is the cotton candy Which is wrapped around I'm looking at the picture here, it looks like

Fruit loops, sprinkles M&M's, it's like fruit loops, sprinkles, M&Ms. It's just jam-packed with as much sugar as you can possibly find. And this sounds like just a usual Wednesday night meal for a dog. I call this breakfast. The breakfast burrito. A staple of a dog's diet. I was saying to him, like, I'm more of a chocolate guy.

I know people think of me as this, like, sugar freak. Well, I do love cereal. Everyone knows that. There's no sugar in that. I will say, though, like, the sugar level of sweets, of treats, they can't be too sugary. Otherwise, I just get sick of it super fast. And as soon as he shared this picture with

me, honestly, man, it looks too sugary. It looks kind of disgusting. I'm not gonna lie. It sounds good in theory, but I think if you have, like like more than a couple bites of it your teeth will just start to hurt i actually i'm glad you brought this up i hate the new era of viral bait stadium food where it's like we're gonna create the stupidest darren rovell special sometimes it actually looks good ugly yeah but sometimes but often it's just like let's throw a bunch of stupid ingredients together and everyone will like oh this looks wild on social media and take pictures of it and laugh about it it's like how can we make a burger that might kill a guy yeah it's like just make food that i want to you just want a dog and a beer i don't

want to go he's a working man's man i don want to go spend $20 on some like stunt gimmick concession item. So I can like post a stupid picture and an emoji on Instagram for it. Footlong dog? Well, that's just more hot dog. Okay. That's fine. But any more innovations on the hot dog, you're out. Oh, we put like a waffle bun around it and maple syrup on it.

It's like, no. Well, hold on. Can you finish that out? That sounds pretty good a foot long hot dog in a in a waffle bun what about this a maple sushi hot dog that was what the c's were known for a couple years ago look i don't want to i don't want to rip into our broadcast partners i tried it it was good all right look i'm just saying i like every every team almost runs one of these out now. And it's just for likes and clicks and views on social media.

It's not designed to be enjoyed. It's not designed to actually for people to actually like it and have fun eating it or to even to be easy to eat at the stadium in an arena. It's just a publicity stunt. I hate it. I'm done with it. It's over. Get it out of here. Stop it. just make good food that people want to eat by the way a dog as you were saying about the sweetness i will say the older i get i find the less tolerance for sweet i agree i was saying that

exact thing to laddie i have a tradition every halloween it's my favorite holiday as you may or may not know not a holiday it is a holiday shut up it's my favorite holiday, as you may or may not know. Not a holiday. It is a holiday. Shut up. It's my favorite holiday. And every year... It's not a stat holiday, but it's a celebration. Don't do this again. We're not doing this again. Every holiday Halloween, in my household, the tradition is we watch

the first eight Simpsons Halloween specials and gorge ourselves on Halloween candy. Last year, I think, was the first year where I didn't eat most of our Halloween candy. There was a lot left over. By the time I was like a quarter of the way through the bowl, I'm like, you know what? My body just can't do this anymore.

It's too much sugar. Like five years ago, ten years ago, easily would have demolished the whole thing. Now it's like, I don't know, maybe you hit 40 and all of a sudden you're just not able to consume. I'm 38, so it's not 40. I find also with like... It's weird. It's like I don't know maybe you hit 40 and all of a Sudden you're just not able to I'm 38 so it's not 40 I find also with like it's weird If you you know I was just on

A road trip with my family and you stop at a gas station You go in to get a drink an American Gas an American gas station so the drink Options endless and it's like two liters All I want I don't but everything I look at I'm like too much sugar too much sugar Too much sugar it's you know what I mean I just know It's gonna like I'll feel my teeth

Rotting and I used to love Like a 500 mil Dr. Pepper from the gas Station like let's go Right down the go I guess a kudos to a dog For only eating a quarter of his 20 liter Tub of candy this Halloween Rather than the whole I wanted to I would know it's

Not for lack of trying I wanted to But I just by the time I was like yeah I was just my body's like you can't do this anymore man we're all getting old all right give us a moo cow on the uh the gimmick food one by the way jd and coquitlam says a waffle and syrup dog sounds effing delicious i'm making one of those when i get home what have i done what have i done here i've given some people some terrible ideas uh we'll dive into the inbox for what we learned after the break here. So get yours in 650-650 to the Dunbar Lumber text line.

Get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to Michigan from September 27th to October 1st. Experience games at the Big House, Comerica Park, and Ford Field. Contact Neil Chark at neilc at uniglobecarefree.ca for details. More coming up here in the final

segment of the show how from the rough sports net 650 now for my favorite part of the show what'd i say talk to the audience oh god this is always dead it's what we learn time it's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show. Welcome back to Halford & Brough here, Sportsnet 650.

Jamie Dodd, Israel Fair filling in here. Final segment of the show, Halford & Brough brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Halford & Brough is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound.

Visit campbell-pound.com today. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in tilbury's industrial park more room more product more awesome details at dumb bar lumber dot com and uh we're all done are what we learned so let's go right in to the inbox and imprint out the listener submissions laddie and of course before we start reading them we gotta play the fire plan drop oh my god we're having a fire plan nailed it that was the right

order that was the right order right yeah all right i was hyping myself up in the break i was talking myself through it visualizing what i was gonna do a big spreadsheet. I was going to go. Yeah. With all the steps I got through it. I did it. I'm very proud of myself. Okay. 650, 650, Justin and East van comes in with what we learned in the season premiere of hard talks,

hard knocks, excuse me, Chicago bears tight end and UBC alum, Theo Benedict saying, God bless the USA and stripped down to an Eagle Speedo for his rookie talent show. Now, Theo Benedict, I did not. I was not aware of this, but you brought it to my attention. I sprung it on you.

To make sure that I read this one on. Not only is he an alumni of the UBC Thunderbirds, who is trying to make the Bears as an undrafted free agent. Also, an alumni of Hansworth Secondary in North Van, where I am a graduate as well. So I got to give some shine. Says a lot. I got to give, that's right, says a lot. Me and Izzy are Lynn Valley boys, by the way.

I know. We got you outnumbered. I know, Sutherland and Argyle, right? So you guys are going to like team up, put your differences aside. Actually, based on that history, we should hate each other. I was going to say, like you guys are the bigger rivals. Yeah, that's true. Or is it like a Lynn Valley coming together to hate Western North Van? Sutherland and Argyle we should hate each other. I was going to say, you guys are the bigger rivals. Or is it like a Lynn Valley coming together to hate Western North.

Southern and Argyle have always hated each other. That would be like Carson and Hansworth. Yeah, exactly. The blood rivals. But anyways, I got to give some shine to a guy from Hansworth, from UBC, getting a chance to make it in the NFL. And not just that, but seizing the spotlight in hard knocks. Theo Bennett. Yeah, forget Caleb Williams. Whatever else happens, he'll always be able to say but seizing the spotlight in hard knocks. Theo Bennett.

Yeah, forget Caleb Williams. Whatever else happens, he'll always be able to say. He's the star of the show. I was featured in an episode of HBO's Hard Knocks. And by the way, he was also, he's trying to make the NFL's non-drafted free agent. He was drafted by the BC Lions. So he could end up, we'll see, one day playing for the hometown team here, which would be awesome as well.

But shout out to Theo Benedict for, as I said, stealing the show a little bit from Hard Knocks, stripping down to an Eagle Speedo for his rookie talent show. Love to see a local guy getting it done, doing big things. Not afraid of the moment. I thought you were going to say, love to see a local guy stripping down to a Speedo. Stripping down to a Speedo. What could be better than that? Basket phil text in what we learned i learned two things one i really hate fiba refs two if a business like home hardware canadian tire doesn't get cameron rogers and

ethan katzenberg in a commercial it's an opportunity loss that's from basketball phil we have an incredible number of hammer throw related what we learned submissions coming sweeping the nation i'm sure we'll get to some of them for sure we will but i think it's a good point from basketball phil just like in general whether you're a local business whether you are you know involved in sports grassroots sports at the government level this is our moment we need to lean in we need to embrace our newfound status as the hammer throw capital of the world our province of british columbia the undisputed hammer thrown hammer throw powerhouse that we are and we got to make sure this lasts we got to make this a part of our identity.

I think we got to seriously talk about, you know, requirements in PE in school. Everyone is going to pick up a hammer and learn to throw it. We're going to identify the best future. No square dancing anymore in PE. It's going to be hammer throwing instead. No square dancing. No no no wrestling hammer throw all hammer throw this is a an all society investment that we're going to make to

to ensure that we remain the capital of the hammer throw universe thanks to cameron roger uh to cameron rogers and et Ethan Katzenberg right like when you when an opportunity arises you got to make the most of it it's it's on the table and Mike the urologist from Brockville says what we learned BC is a hammer throw Mecca people from all

around the world will be coming to the lower mainland of Vancouver Island to learn and train to be hammer throwers we should lean into this I do have to be nitpicky for a throwers. We should lean into this. I do have to be nitpicky for a second though, Jamie. As a friend of the show, I should say that it's important that Ethan Katzberg's name is pronounced correctly.

He's going to be listening because he's such a good friend of the show. Excuse me. Ethan Katzberg. I don't want to offend a friend of the show. A close personal friend. Hey, he is. He's a BCer. He's a BCer. He's a BCer. I mean, there's a... Who looks like an Australian. Who looks like an Australian or something.

I don't know about that. Was it Burton Cummings had a retweet the other day? Yeah, it had some young Burton Cummings vibes for sure to him. Yeah. So there you go. We'll see if we get to more Hammer Throw takes as well in here. Because as I said, it was a big day for Hammer Throw. Big day for Hammer Throw, big day for hammer.

It's been a big week. It's true. Big, big week for a hammer throw related texts coming in to the six 50, six 50 Dunbar lumber text line. Another one unsigned. Actually, it's from Jovan says what we learned.

This Iuke 49er situation is going to show what he really cares about. The money or winning is a couple million more worth not coming close to an AFC slash NFC championship because the Brown Steelers Pats who have interest in him are nowhere close to that. It is an interesting situation now with Iuke and the 49ers and the teams pursuing him because really it's it to a large extent. It's in his control, right? We heard the report yesterday. We talked about it yesterday that they had kind of a framework in place with both the Browns and the Pats, and then it was really, will one of those teams meet the contractual demands

that Brandon Ayuk has? I've seen reports now that the Pats have kind of pulled out and said, you know what, we're not interested in paying you that much, so we're moving on. We're happy with our group of young wide receivers here. As the texture says, it really does get to like, what do the Niners want? And what does Brandon Ayuk want? And at a certain point for all of the like, oh, a trade could be imminent.

They've worked something out. They've got a framework in place. Does it just make way more sense for both sides to figure out a way to get a deal done, right? For the Niners to keep the better player and Ayuk maybe taking a tiny bit of a shave off what he wants, but still being in a place to make money and have success at a team level. Yeah, I think in football, it seems like these things just happen, right? Like there are very few hard feelings over over the years because guys are looking at what leverage they have iuk's in a position here where he feels like he can cash

in and in that sport because of the physicality because of the injuries that that guys can accumulate they're often encouraged to cash in when they can but that doesn't mean that it's you know he's not on the open market the 49ers could probably make some things work and the the cap in the nfl is something that i cannot profess to completely understand but they rip up contracts they move money around they convert it to signing bonuses. Yeah, there are a lot of shenanigans. It does feel like here he's an important part of their offense. He brings a dynamic to their receiver group that they otherwise wouldn't have. I did see some people suggesting that if it was ultimately Cleveland, that the 49ers should push to get Amari Cooper back in the deal.

I saw it was Amari Cooper from Cleveland, potentially, or Kendrick Bourne from the Pats, which has fallen through now. I don't know who it would be from the Steelers, but that's one of the things about trying to do a deal after the draft, after free agency, is you need a contributing player coming back. And it's obvious they're not going to be as good as Ayuk, but you need at least someone that you can plug in there.

You can't just lose a guy who's at the top of your receiving depth. No, and then anytime you're doing player-for-player trades in the NFL, it becomes really difficult and really complicated, right? So I don't know. This one's fascinating to me, and I do wonder if we're just going to be, you know, everyone agrees to bury the hatchet, and at least you play out one more year and take a shot at a Super Bowl together and then kind of see where things stand.

Because if these other teams aren't immediately, like, if they're not, if these other teams aren't immediately ponying up what Iuke wants, the incentive for him to do a deal really falls apart as well. And then who's trying to get this deal done, right? Like, if there's not a ton of incentive for the Niners, if there's not a ton of incentive for him, it feels like we might be headed for them just sticking together for a while. Yeah, right. It happens.

The, you know, guys that have bigger profiles than him, right? Like Saquon Barkley. He didn't miss games, right? But there was an extended, I'm not going to sign, I'm not going to sign. And then he ends up going back to the Giants on a one-year deal for less than people thought he would. And then he did go to free agency and he did sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. So that is the reality. The NFL is also not quite like the NHL in the sense that there isn't this constant,

well, if this guy's going to leave, we just have to – you don't get rentals as much. No. You don't get this – like, we got to trade this guy so we can recoup what his value is. The cap is so valuable, and you'll see it. Year after year, some teams will go into free agency with tons of cap room and that for them is the most important thing because the draft is so instantly impactful that in this scenario right now brandon ayuk is a valuable player to the 49ers that's not to say that if they go into the draft next year and say well let's draft the receiver that's got the ability to stretch the field that they have to wait a number of years for that player to jump into the lineup.

And then they don't have to commit huge money to IU. So they are in this middle ground here where clearly the player feels like he's got some leverage to guarantee himself a big contract. The 49ers are in absolutely no rush to give him that money. So it could go on for a while, especially if it does sound like, according to the reports, that he appears to prefer Pittsburgh. Maybe he's just a big fan of Russell Wilson, who hasn't been taking part in training camp. Hi, Luke.

He wants to be part of Mr. Unlimited. He knows that the ceiling is there. I don't blame blame him i'd be a big fan of mike tomlin but uh it also i think he's looking at a team there that's had some some issues at receiver and thinks that he can cash in and and be their number one guy catching passes from russell wilson um all right what we learned here marcus and gibson's texan Dan Shulman's voice is synonymous with disappointment this year. First the Jays and now Olympic basketball. Well, it's a good point. And it's not wrong on Shulman.

And it's unfortunate because Shulman, I think, is, you know, I almost separate hockey from other sports in Canada because hockey looms so large. But I think certainly if you take hockey out of the mix, he's the best Canadian play-by-play voice in the business. And even if you include hockey, he's right up there. He is absolutely incredible. I mean, you could go to people in the States because of his work on ESPN, college basketball, college basketball. He still calls you.

He brought up as an example when we asked him about the atmosphere in that France Canada game yesterday. The first thought that he had was calling Kansas basketball. And then he also mentioned calling games at Fenway. But that's a guy that people in the U.S. have really, really high opinions on the way that he calls games. He's a phenomenal, phenomenal broadcaster. And it's disappointing, I'm sure, for him as well. But he hasn't had better teams and a better product to be able to talk about

and to be able to call games for this year in either his regular gig calling Jays games for us or at the Olympics. And really, I mean, we were focused on the men's side, but the women's team had designs on a medal as well. I think they were ranked fifth in the world coming into this tournament, and they really, really performed poorly. So for neither of those teams to be able to go on a run, very frustrating. And, you know, bringing up the Jays as well, this text came in earlier from Sean in Delta, who says early in the Blue Jays game last night, the Blue Jays game last night,

Vlad was in a rundown between first and second and just stopped, just gave him up, let himself be tagged. No effort. The manager and teammates said nothing to him. I was not impressed. Where is the effort the pride has he just given up does he think he's special maybe it's attitudes like that

that are hurting the team time to move on from Vladdy that's Sean in Delta I was gonna I wanted to bring this up to pose this to you Laddy what did you want him to do break dance like bowl the guy over you're taught to stop you don't want to run into the tag.

That's the least you can do. He did that. I mean, you're in a rundown. Limbo under the tag? With professional players, there's not much you can do. You're pretty much hooped. It's kind of funny you have that text come in because as much justified frustration as there is with the Blue Jays this year, and certainly with the front office, and then John Schneider is the manager and all of that.

Like, Vladdy is really the lone bright spot. Don't direct it at Ladi. Like, Vlade, don't direct it at Ladi. Or Ladi. For sure. A little slip there. We always get the heat. Me and Vlade are the same.

Everyone lay off Ladi. Yeah. Vlade's having the second best season of his career. Very quietly, right? Now, it's nowhere close to where he was in 2021, where he had 48 home runs, MVP candidate. But still, like, he's been a really, really productive player. Should have won over Shohei.

I don't know about that. All right, settle down, Vladdy. What are you talking about? I have been very critical of Vladdy at different points in his Blue Jays career, right? And I think maybe part of it is the instruction he's getting from the hitting coach and from the team.

I don't know what it is, but just seeing the raw talent he has as a hitter and constantly seeing it not come together since that year has been very, very frustrating. But even I have to admit, at the level he's at right now, it does make sense to try to get him signed to a long-term contract. He's really the only piece there that you feel confident about going forward long-term, given the season that Bo Bichette has had.

I know you follow the Jays pretty closely. Where are you with Vladdy right now, Izzy? Yeah, right now he's reestablished himself, and it's been over a number of months. He had a little bit of a slow start, but since then he's been among the best hitters in the league. And it's tough to put into like a complete picture because we do go back to 2021 and he was dominant.

He was right there with Otani in an MVP race. We are actually having that conversation of which guy is bringing more value. Obviously, Otani with the pitching aspect is going to get a lot more attention. But it's just that this is all happening while the team is completely crumbling around him, which makes it difficult.

I think for the fans who have already written them off to buy into it. Whereas if you are trying to be objective and looking at what the blue Jays have in their organization right now on the roster right now, he's, he is still a player that you that you build around he's still a guy that has at the ceiling and yes even with the way that he's turned his season around you'd still like him to be a little bit more consistent a little bit more uh closer to that ceiling but he's got he's still got all the tools all of the potential to be a guy that that you build your

team around well even when he was struggling right he was still it was just the power numbers that were kind of lagging behind the exit velocity was still there he was still getting on base so if that's if that's a slow season vladi i think you're okay with signing him long term and i think that's the general consensus i think you also have to take into account just like what the offensive environment around baseball is these days, right? To have a guy who's getting on base close to 400 clip, slugging well over 500, that's really rare. That's hard to find. And it's kind of funny because Jays fans are so frustrated with Flatty so much of the time, have been so frustrated.

But you talk to Mariners fans or the Mariners beat writers, and they were like, oh my gosh, can you imagine if we got that guy and that bat in our lineup they were desperate to get a bat like that i almost think there's an element of because some of the shine has come off flatty like i wonder if a long-term deal is maybe even a little cheaper now and does make more sense for the jays to go all in on uh on keeping him around sounds like he doesn't he doesn't think that he's like no i think i'm still really forget to he's a year older than some of the prospects they were bringing in in these trades from the trade deadline. Loprofito is like eight months younger than Vladi.

Right. It's incredible what he's doing. Even if he has ups and downs up to this point, they're kind of expected with a younger player. Yeah. But if this is kind of the start of a prime, you know, 25 to 29 arc for Vladi, as you said, this is the type of player you can build

around you need a lot more right he's still a first baseman he's not gonna you know he only brings really value uh at the plate not in the field not on the base paths but i think he's done enough this season where you can at least feel comfortable doing that long-term extension where coming into this year like i wouldn't have said that i would have been very very nervous about signing vlad it's funny you mentioned the Mariners thing, the Mariners fans saying that. I was watching some Yahoo covers of the deadline and they did a brief aside about Vladdy

and their whole thing was just like, what are the Jays thinking? Like, do you want a Hall of Famer, a future Hall of Famer on your team or not? Like sign this guy. Like, what are you thinking? And just to hear that from an outside perspective, it's been very refreshing

because within Jays fandom, it doesn't feel like that's the sentiment at least no it very much has not been and it's uh it's funny how how different things can look i feel like it's almost there's a similar thing going on with elias peterson right where if if fans from around the league knew what the elias peterson conversations were like in vancouver i think they would be gobsmacked they'd be like wait what what are you guys talking about what color is the sky over there? This is the player you're furious

about? Elias Pettersson, who's had 89 points last year and over 100 the year before? It's a life lesson. You're always harder on your own people, right? Yeah. That's right. Alright, thanks for listening. Thanks for texting in. Appreciate it. We will be back on the show tomorrow for another edition of

Alfred and Baroff right here on Sportsnet 650.