Simon Hiatt, Sports Broadcaster | Good Sports EP12 - Good Sports | YXE Local Sports

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Whatever makes you happy, what gets you out of band,
whatever kicks the cop website, you'll join it instead.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Of victorious day dream. That's with glory of fame by
we all on the same team. It's the name of
the game.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back inside the dufferin Avenue Media Network mothership.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
This is good sports.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
My name is Ryan Flaherty and thank you for joining
me here for episode A twelve. Thanks as always to
Sean Carpinka for writing and performing our theme song. One
of these days I'm gonna get a full band and
we'll record another, like full version of that. One of
these days maybe we'll do that. I really appreciate that though.
From Sean, thank you as always. Thanks for watching, and

(01:03):
you can follow the show right here on YouTube. You're
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(01:25):
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(01:48):
the Saskatoon area. You can also contact the show directly
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to see, or you'd want to share some feedback on
a recent episode, or maybe a not two recent episode.
Maybe you're digging back into the early episodes. Either way,
I'd love to hear from you. Good Sports three or
six at gmail dot com. Good all right, that's logistics

(02:12):
out of the way. We've got a great guest this
week as we continue to build our best of Saskatoon
sports of the last twenty five years of the quarter century.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
If you will.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Of course, if you watched our show about a month
ago with John Fraser, he and I made our picks
for a number of categories. Got another guest from the
local media landscape to add his choices to those lists
as well. It's Simon Hyatt, fellow broadcaster and PA announcer
for the Sasatoon Berries also play by play with the

(02:45):
Saskatchewan Ratlers, among other things. He's going to be with
me here in just a few minutes time, so want
to get to that great chat with him. But first
we got to start off where we always do, with
what's going on and what's going on this week? Well,

(03:13):
we got to start it in the same place we
start almost every week, and with very good reason. This week,
the Saskatoon Berries are getting set to launch their playoff campaign.
In fact, as you were seeing this episode, it's already underway.
We're recording prior to Game one of their East Division
semifinal series against the Moose John Maverick Mavericks Moose John

(03:35):
Miller Express, of course, but this episode won't come out
until after they've played Game one of that series. It's
a best of three series, alternating home parks with the
Berries by virtue of having the best record in the league,
they're hosting Game one and of necessary, Game three. Now,
rewinding just a few steps prior to the playoffs should
give them a real big atta boy, if you will,

(03:58):
or a set of auta boys, for putting together the
most wins in Western Canadian Baseball League history. They set
the record with their forty fifth win with a walkoff
victory over the Medicine Hat Mavericks. That was on Sunday.
They won that game in the bottom of the tenth
after trailing by three runs going into the bottom half

(04:20):
of the tenth inning. They win it on a walkoff
grand slam by Mason Roll. That was his second walkoff,
hitting fourt hayes by the way, and that gave him
forty five wins, a WCBA record. Well, they went one
better and they had one more to that total with
another victory over those same Mavericks on Monday as seven
to five win to finish off the season at forty

(04:43):
six and nine. Maybe doing the math and saying that's
an odd number of games, that's kind of strange. They
had a rainout earlier in the year against Medicine Hat
that is not going to be made up because neither
team needed to play. The game would not have made
a difference in the standings. Had they needed it, there

(05:04):
would have been a double header on Monday, but because
it was not a consequential game that they needed in
neither team you needed to play, they just wiped it
off the schedule. So the final record forty six and nine,
best record in WCBL history for the Berries. And as
we will hear talking with Simon Hyatt coming up shortly,
a lot of players playing major roles in that success

(05:27):
this season. Of course, we've been watching this show, you
know all about a number of those players. We've had
two of them right here on the show in past weeks,
Ethan Minard and Carter Beck. So if you haven't yet
been to a game, you're running out of time. But
there are playoff games and playoff tickets, so think a
few playoff tickets still available to see the Berries take
on the Moosjom Miller Express, who of course were the

(05:48):
team that eliminated them from the playoffs in their inaugural
year last season. That was in the East Division final.
This time it comes in the East Division semi finals
that they're meeting.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
But again it's best of three. It's all best of threes.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
I'm here on out for the Berries as they look
to take that record setting regular season and extend it
into a championship win here in the playoffs in year
two for the organization. So great stuff by the Berries,
that's what's going on with them. As I mentioned, Game
one of that East Division semi will have already been
played by the time this episode is released. Game three,

(06:21):
if necessary, goes Friday night this Friday night at Next
Gen Patch at Karen's Field. Of course, Game two will
be in moose Jaw Thursday evening at ross Wells Park.
That's what's going on with the Berries, all right? What
is going on with the Saskatchewan Rush. Well nll Free
agency is just a little over a week or so away,

(06:43):
officially opening on August fifteenth, at least, that's the latest
news that I saw. There's some question about ongoing CBA
negotiations possibly impacting the data free agency. I don't think
it will be delayed. I'm not sure if they've reached
new agreement yet, but for the time being, it does
look like free agency will open on the fifteenth. But

(07:04):
of course, there's nothing that says you can't re sign
your own players before free agency opens, and that's what
the Rush did with two of their key veteran forwards,
their captain, Ryan Keenan, and their leading scorer soon to
be leading scorer in franchise history. He's already the leading
scorer in Saskatchewan Rush history. It's Robert Church. They both

(07:25):
signed one year contract extensions in the past week, guaranteeing
that they will be remaining with the Rush for the
twenty twenty sixth season. Of course, as I just mentioned,
Church last year in fact past mark Matthews to become
the leader in Saskatchewan Rush history in terms of points,
but he is within striking distance of Matthews for the

(07:49):
all time franchise leader in points as well in this
upcoming season. Church had seventy three points last year, which
was second on the team, of course, but he did
miss four games, so he likely would have led the
team in scoring had he played all eighteen. He played
his fourteen games thirty three goals forty assists. He also
added twenty six points in the playoffs as the Rush

(08:10):
game were just one win short of taking the NLL title.
And yeah, so just an all time an all time
great Rush player, but the only team he's ever played for.
This will be his thirteen season with the Rush coming
up here in twenty twenty six. As for Ryan Keenan
also has only ever played for the Rush in his
National Lab Cross League career. Former first overall draft pick

(08:32):
back in twenty sixteen. Prior to their first season here
in Saskatoon. He is third all time in franchise scoring
and he served as the team's captain for the last
two seasons. So, coming off a seventy three point season
of his own in twenty twenty five, had seventeen points
in that playoff run as well. So Ryan Keenan and
Robert Schurts both under contract for the coming season, two

(08:56):
big boxes checked by Rush general manager and father of
Derek Keenan. So that's what's going on with the Saskatchewan Rush.
Let's move over to another team that plays out of
Sastel Center, that being the Saskatchewan Rattlers, who, as you
know if you've been following the show or following them
this season, they have been eliminated from playoff contention for

(09:17):
a couple of weeks.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Now they're still battling hard down the stretch, giving their.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Opponents a handful to deal with and playing some spoiler
along the way too as well, as they did in
their last and their most recent game, which was a
victory on the road over the Edmonton Stingers ninety to
eighty eight, three point shot for the winning points by
Jordan Bowden as the Rattlers put a significant dent in

(09:46):
the Stingers hopes of hosting a playoff or play in
game of some sort. Edmonton currently sitting third in the West,
but at least a couple games back of the Calgary
Surge now and with the Winnipeg Sea Bears, who are
also in the West, slated to host Championship Weekend, that
means that their record doesn't matter in the standings. So

(10:06):
even though they're below Edmonton in the standings, Edmonton in
another year would be third, they would already sort of
be locked into their playoff position, not the case. They're
battling just to maybe get a chance to host a
play in game, but that took a serious blow with
that loss to Saskatchewan, as the Rattlers actually split their
two games last week. They lost on Friday last Friday

(10:28):
in Winnipeg ninety eight to eighty nine, a real seesaw
game where they trailed by seventeen, came back to lead
by eight, but then ended up losing by nine to
those Sea Bears, the hosts of Championship Weekend. That game
in Winnipeg was actually the Rattlers first without Nate Pierre Louis,
or at least since he left the team. He did

(10:49):
miss a game earlier in the year as well due
to injury, but the Rattlers announcing over the last week
that Pierre Louis has left the team prematurely before the
end of the season, that is, to get himself sort
of situated along with his family for his next opportunity
in basketball as the winter season approaches. That's where a
lot of these players make their their biggest money or

(11:12):
their most sort of impact. That's the traditional basketball season.
And so with NAP, Pierre Luis having already set a
new CBL record for assists in a season, and with
his team out of the playoff mix, there really wasn't
anything left for him to stick around and play for
other than just to play out the string. So this
is not a case of a player who is you know,
disgruntled and wanted to leave because they're not winning. It

(11:34):
was about him just getting squared away and settled in
to his next gig, which I believe is going to
be in Austria, playing in Europe this winter. So and
with a young son and a wife as well, you know,
there's a lot of logistics to sort out there. So
I don't have an official word there, but based on
being around the team all season, and being around a
Pierre Louiell season, I can tell you being disgruntled and

(11:55):
like quitting on the team and leaving early before the
season's over.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
That's not in his DNA.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
So this is just a matter of getting squared away
for his next basketball opportunity with nothing left to play
for here down the stretch in Saskatoon. So I want
to wish him well. But that first game against Winnipeg,
the Ratlers did look like really the first half of
it especially, they were really missing their point guard. Took
them a while to figure things out on the floor
without him there. They got hot and the second half
just couldn't sustain it. But they seem to put a

(12:21):
better team game together to beat Edmonton on Sunday. So
just three games left for the Rattlers on their schedule.
Two of those are at home. One will have already
been played by the time you're seeing this episode, So
that's the rematch against Edmonton Wednesday night that has now
since happened. Then they will visit Calgary on Friday night,
and they wrap up the season back at home on Sunday,

(12:41):
five pm tip off at Saastel Center. Against the Brampton
Honey Badgers, who are the last place team in the East.
So that's what's left on the docket for the Rattlers
as they approached the final games of the season. This
is the last week six and fifteen as they head
into the final three games. So that's what's going on

(13:02):
with the Rattlers. And finally one quick note want and
let you know of course, the Saskatoon Hilltops. Their season
is about to get underway. In fact, it kicks off
this coming weekend as they will be on the road
to take on the Winnipeg Rifles on August tenth. At
The Hilltops scores looking to reclaim the PFC title after
an upset loss to Regina in the conference championship last year.

(13:25):
After the Hilltops were undefeated during the season, so they've
got some payback in mind and they want to get
back to the top of the mountain and it would
be probably unwise to bet against them in that regard
as well. So Toppers camp underway this week as they
get said to kick things off. Course, they had their
alumni game over the weekend as well, and the alumni
with a comeback victory over the current Toppers. I believe

(13:48):
the final score was eighteen to seventeen in that alumni game.
So good luck to the Hilltops on their twenty twenty
five season, which kicks off this weekend. That's what's going
on with the h That's what's going on this week.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
All right.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Well, we are just off of a long weekend, of course,
and that means that the summer sports season is starting
to get towards the tail end. And what better time
than to check in with someone who's very involved with
the summer sports season here from the sidelines here in Saskatoon.
He's been very involved with the local sports scene for
a long time, longer than me for that matter, and

(14:25):
a fellow broadcaster and friend as well, and here to
chime in on some summer sports and also add his
picks to our best of Saskatoon from this quarter century.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
No pressure.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Simon hyatt Ie a a friend, a friend of the network, yep,
friend of the mother Ship.

Speaker 5 (14:43):
My third show that I've been on. I was just
talking with Gary and I'm just going to keep on
adding to that total. I want to be on the
book review show. I want to play video games. I
want to do them all.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
He wants to be a brand Ambassador.

Speaker 5 (14:55):
Thank you for.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
The Dufford Avenue to Media Network. Yes, Simon. For those
who don't know, uh, well, I guess how we've known
each other about about ten ten years or so.

Speaker 5 (15:04):
Whenever you started your career, we would have met because
I would have been a sort of a I don't
know if I was a sports reporter at that point
or if I was the general reporter, but yeah, I
was at what was Shaw TV is now Rogers TV
at that time and so covered a lot of sports
either either way. You know, one of the great things
about that gig is we kind of all got to

(15:25):
do a little bit of everything. So yeah, we would
have met around the time you started your career here.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
I always even though you're obviously correctly point out that
you did a little bit of everything, but I've always
thought of you it was a sports guy, even though
you did great community reporting as well. I don't want
to I don't want to overlook that, but it is
a sports show, so lean into that. But that and
that's the capacity that I've generally known because I was
a sports reporter.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
So we would meet.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
We would run into each other absolutely sports events, understandably,
that would be how the how the job works. Uh,
and then you used to do Husky basketball. I kind
of moved into that after you hit are scepticide for that.
And we get the privilege of calling Ratlers games together
to which is a ton of fun. We've done that
for the last few years. We're gonna talk some Rattlers.
But you're also a familiar voice to anyone who's been

(16:11):
at a Saastoon Berries game the last couple of years
are the PA announcer for the sastoon Berries, And so
we're going to talk about both those teams. But given
how one is done versus the other, I figured, you know,
it's the old like compliment sandwhich kind of version on
this show where we don't want to start with the down,
we want to start with the high here compliment Sandwich,
I guess you could call it. And so let's talk

(16:31):
some Berries, because man, what a year for the Berries.

Speaker 5 (16:34):
Just an amazing year. Like it's been so much fun.
And you know, go back to the first year in
the league, which was just last year. They were a
good team, Like they made it very close to getting
to the championship series. They lost in the final game there,
and so you thought, you know, a lot of the
same guys were coming back this year, so man's that's

(16:54):
a good core to build around. And but yeah, what
they have done this year, I think far surpassed what
anyone could have could have expected. Perhaps other than Joe Carnahan,
maybe he's the mad genius and hilty that built this crew.
It's it's been incredible all time record for wins in
a season. They said it on the weekend.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
They did, as we touched on in What's going On earlier. Yes,
and they didn't even need to play the full schedule no,
to set that record because they had their final game
wiped off.

Speaker 4 (17:23):
They didn't need it need to play it.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
There was a rain out earlier in the year that
they didn't need to make up because there was no
mathematical reason to do so. But you're you're right, it's
been an absolute wagon. Joe Carnahan, I think is an
interesting figure to me, and I should also mention, I mean,
if you don't know, this guy is baseball. That's my jam,
this is his this is his sport of all the sports.
You're one of the most hardcore baseball fans that I know.

(17:49):
But Joe Carnahan, I know, like he just kind of
quietly has had this team at the top right from
pretty much well they lost their first game of the
season and then it's been pretty much all wins ever since.
But you know, I think part because the league, of
the prominence of the league, but also just Joe doesn't
seem like the guy who has any interest at all
in receiving any credit, taking any credit, getting any sort

(18:11):
of spotlight. But he's the guy that basically put this
team together and has coached them to this insane record
as a head into the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (18:19):
Yeah, I would agree with that. And you're right about
his personality. I mean, you know, he's not a super
fiery guy. You know, if an umpire blows a call,
well he'll get out there and let the umpire know
it's in the DNA. I think you might have gotten
that wrong. But if you're just chatting with him before
or after a game, very very quired, very soft spoken,
very calm, very nice man. And yeah, the juggernaut that

(18:43):
he built this season is truly something to behold.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
I find it coaching. I find very interesting in baseball
because it's not a sport. I mean, obviously there are
plenty of menagerial like strategic decisions with the game. But
it's not an x's and oh's, you know, scheme up,
you're right type of sport where the coach can have
sort of an outsized influence on the play as it happens.

(19:09):
But what they do do is, hey, they bring in
the assembla roster, and then they put those players in
the best positions to succeed. So what has it been
about the mix? I mean, is it Obviously they're very
talented team, but has he done anything in your mind
that has really set them up for the success they've had, Like,
what what has been sort of the magic mix for Joe?

Speaker 5 (19:27):
Yeah? I mean I think I sort of stumbled my
way through this on one of the other shows that
I was on here where I what ended up coming
out of my mouth is the pitching is good and
the hitting is good, and they are more runs than
the other guys.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
This is a very John Madden level of what.

Speaker 5 (19:42):
I was trying to say was that the offense is amazing,
just great hitters, and it's a it's a pretty complete
lineup top to bottom. You know, they don't run super deep.
It was actually interesting for anyone who either watched Less's
call of the game just on Monday, on Holiday Monday,
or was at the game. We actually got to see

(20:04):
some of the AP guys like, yeah, the Cubs, Yeah, exactly,
the guys who haven't gotten a chance to play. Uh,
they got their chance and actually pulled out the win
for the forty sixth win of the season for the
Barris But you know, he kind of has his core guys. Uh,
it's been great hitting and good pitching. It's it's it's

(20:25):
this is a team that's if it's going to win,
it's going to hit its way to winning, which I
guess I think is kind of typical for this league.
I think usually the hitting is a bit ahead of
the pitching. In the WCBL, not a lot of two one, three,
one four games. One of the interesting things here down
the stretch is you know the the Berries you mentioned,

(20:46):
they lost the first game then just went on this
incredible terror. It looked like they weren't going to lose
a game but home all seasons, like we were like
three and then they ended up losing three, which was
which was unfortunate, but I mean that it's baseball. People.
Teams don't go defeated. You know, there's the old saying
in baseball, typically you win a thirty year games, you
lose a thirty year games, and what's what you do

(21:07):
with that middle games is going to determine your season.
The Barriers are gonna won way more than two thirds
of their games. They really are pacing the field in
the whole league. But it's been impressive to watch, and
I think the thing that's going to be interesting to
see is can they keep that momentum going into the playoffs,

(21:27):
because obviously baseball playoffs are it's such a different thing.
You know, I think they can. I think they have
the talent, but you know, we're talking about potentially three
best of three series where you're guaranteed you're playing one
of those games in hostile territory. It's you know, it's
a whole new thing that this regular season has been great,

(21:49):
but I think the goal as it should be, as
it should be for every team, got to win that title.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
The margin for error is so much thinner when you
can only you know, they didn't lose back to back
games up until very late in the season. Just here
in this last week is the first time they lost
consecutive games all year. Well, of course, when you only
lose nine games all season, you're not gonna lose very
many in a row. But this is a scenario where
you don't even have to lose two in a row.

(22:16):
You lose game one and Game three and you're done.
So you mentioned the hitting u because I don't want
to talk about playoffs were in a moment, But absolutely
the hitting that jumps up to me too, I think
because if you look at you know, the league leaders
in the various categories and things like that, like the barriers,
names are all over most of the hitting categories and
it's a number of different players. But pitching wise, other

(22:36):
than Matt Whitney being tied for the league lead in wins,
and that's part.

Speaker 4 (22:42):
You can talk all.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
You want about the value of that stat for a pitcher,
but it does reflect the team's success. But really, like
there's no one that's throwing up tons of strikeouts or
just like crazy low era it's but it's that crazy
that it's that lineup is just like I have some
of the numbers here in front of me, like Ethan
Minard three ninety two batting average. That's after cooling off

(23:04):
in the last week or so, he was at about
a four to ten clip for most of the season,
Carter Beck three eighty five. Both those guys, those guys
combined for twenty one homers and over eighty rbi. Ethan
Murdoch he's hitting three twenty five, he's got fifty three RBI.
Corey Waters another twelve homers, Battle six three sixty three.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
So yeah, and.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
That's just those are just four guys. There's other guys too.
I mean, I mean they just had the walk off.
The name of the Mason Ral thank you, he actually
had the walk off, hitting them both the last team
he wins.

Speaker 4 (23:35):
Right.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
So, actually, before we go for that one, to talk
about that, because you were there for that game on Sunday,
that was the record setter, the forty fifth win, and
there's not many more dramatic ways to get it. Maybe
you could take us through that because it was a
it went to extras and medicine had actually went up
what ten to seven in the ten right three?

Speaker 5 (23:56):
And yeah, it's it's the situation you dream of when
you're a kid playing ball in the backyard. Yeah, they
Barry's fell behind early, came storming back, tied it up.
It's like, all right, we're all tied up. End of
the ninth and then Madison At scores three and it's like, oh,
all right, well, I guess we'll have to wait for
the record until Monday maybe. And then, because it was

(24:16):
extra innings, like in Major League Baseball, into WCBL, you
get the courtesy runner, so they got a two run shot,
and then they loaded the bases and Masonrel came up
and it was also one of those situations where they
intentionally walked someone ahead of Masonrel. I can't remember who
it was. This one might have been Avian Mendina. So
he comes up with the bases loaded and you're just like,

(24:40):
I can't really I think there was one out because
when the ball he hit the ball and it was
like a high shot. It was like you could tell
it was deep. So my first thought is, oh, okay,
sacrifice fly, We're going to tie the game. Great, and
you see the outfielder turn around and like with his
back it's like, oh, this might be an extra base hit,
maybe they'll get the win. And then it just kept

(25:01):
on going and going and going. And one of the
really fun things for me, because I am the public
address announcer, I don't do play by play for that
the excellent Less Lazark does play by play, so good
old Less I like to mention about in every appearance,
but because just in the last few games, the home
runs have been a sponsored element for the public ads announcer,

(25:24):
so as the players rounding the bases, I say, I
don't I won't mention the sponsor, but this is a
home run brought to you by BA, and so into
the PA, Mike, I got to say, this was a
Grand Slam walk off home run sponsored by BA, and yeah,
that was that was really cool. I will I will

(25:45):
save that clip forever.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
I mean, like I say, those of us who didn't
maybe didn't play sports a high level now, but we
get to call them. That's what we save it, right,
is the chance to bear witness to moments like those
and help to translate them as well.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
Ringman Mischake, you and I are both high level athletes.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Well you know it was the knee, right, It was
just the bum knee and politics it would have been
would have been gretz Ski if not for the knee,
the gret Ski of water polo.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
They called, they called me, but nope.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
Nope, not gonna happen. But no, those are very cool,
so I gotta beau. So we got to get the
score right then. So was the final score was thirteen
to ten then, because I looked online as fourteen to ten,
but I was trying to figure out through the box
score after the fact, and it was very confusing because
I was like, I think he hit a grand slam.

Speaker 5 (26:34):
I believe it was thirteen to ten.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
Okay, because the final score that listed fourteen to ten,
and I was like, but it looks like there wasn't tie.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
Anyway.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
The point is it was a grand slam to win
the game. Whether it was thirteen or fourteen to ten
doesn't really matter in the final summation. But I wanted
to go back to your point about the playoffs and
how much of a different crucible is that is because
I've and I've referenced this a couple of times this season,
and not as a way to sort of rain on
the Berries parade or anyone to get but you do
have to kind of pop the brakes a little bit

(27:02):
because I think back to twenty thirteen when the medicine
at Mavericks, who I was covering at the time, living
a medicine hat. I think back then the season was
I want to say forty six games or something like that.
It was a bit shorter, but they lost I think
seven games all year. I think they were thirty nine

(27:24):
and or thirty eight and seven or something, very very impressive.
They were kind of like the season the Barris hat.
Everyone was like medicine hat. Wow, what a year. And
then I remember vividly they were hosting the final one
of the games in the championship series against Melville, the
now defunct Melville Millionaires, and.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
They had a lead in Game two. They could have
won the series.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
They lost, Melville came back and then won in Game three,
And so for all that great regular season, yeah, there
was no chance. And then the next year won the
championship with not nearly as impressive regularly as in the record,
but they won the games in the most important time.

Speaker 5 (28:05):
So it's the old saying of I think it was
Derek Jeter who said it is good teams make the playoffs,
hot teams win in the playoff. Yes, it's all a
matter of what kind of baseball you're playing. And in
all honesty, the Barriers have played their worst baseball. Still
pretty good baseball over the past couple of weeks, they
just the offense wasn't quite clicking as much as it

(28:25):
had been. So I think that's almost the biggest thing
that comes out of that Grand Slam victory on Sunday
is they got the bats going. They got clutch hits, which,
you know, who knows how much of a thing you
can strive to achieve that, But I think it was
really good that they got the bats going.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
And not even necessarily one of the quote unquote usual suspects. Yeah,
you know, so that's always nice too. And even though
as you said, the lineup is pretty stacked, they have
sucked a bottom, but that's not a name that you
would first think of, Yeah, when you're thinking of the
guys who are just sort of the big stars of
this team.

Speaker 5 (28:58):
Yeah, he's one of the American import guys from West Bend, Wisconsin,
which is actually very near where a lot of my
family is from there. So I've always felt an affinity
for Mason beyond just the fact that he's he's a Barry.
But it's it's a deep lineup, like like one through nine,
these guys, there's no real weak points in it. I mean,

(29:21):
you know, you look at the game we played on Monday,
Jalen Freeman, who's back with his second season with the Berries.
He had the biggest hit of the day. He had
a two run shot and it's you know, this season
hasn't been quite as good for Jalen as as last
season was, but he could still come through in those moments.
And you know, all around the lineup and then the

(29:43):
first few guys off the bench. This is this is
a talented team.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Is there any And again, I feel like I'm the
jerk who's trying to pour water on this a little bit,
But it's more about like the big picture, the one
thing and it's not even a concern that I would have.
But is there any question about, you know, the record
vis a vis the fact that the two worst teams

(30:07):
in the league are in their division in Wayburn and
Swift Current. That's sixteen I think sixteen games on their
schedule or something like that.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
They exactly absolutely beat the tires of beat the tires,
beat the chants whatever, They beat the cleats right off
of those teams. And I guess it's a little chicken
of the egg, you know, are those teams the two
worst teams in the league? Because they've their records are
such because they lost to the barriers a bunch of times,
would they be? But I just wonder, like, how many

(30:37):
like of all there is, how many are like against
quality teams? Like is there any does that cast any
doubt at all about their like capacity to kind of
role here in the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (30:47):
I mean, I think there's two things here. One is
you play who you play. I mean, it's it's way
better to beat those really bad teams than to lose
to this.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
It's like the Blue Jays the night before recording this.
Beating the out of the.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Colorado Rocket is exactly because that's who you need to
beat the crap out of all.

Speaker 5 (31:04):
All you can do is play the team that's on
your schedule, and you have to take care of business
against those. But at the same time, as as we've said,
it becomes crapshoot in the playoffs when it's best of
three series. You know, they they actually played quite well
against the Moose John Miller Express this year, which is the.

Speaker 4 (31:22):
Team they'll se seven in the onst round.

Speaker 5 (31:23):
Yeah, so, you know, but maybe that makes Moose Jaw go, Hey,
we got nothing to lose. We're not supposed to beat
these guys. There's something about going into a three game
series as the underdog. If they could go in on
Wednesday night and grab a win in Saskatoon, it could
be scary. You don't expect them to but it could happen.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
It's the funky thing about that best of three where
you go back and forth because all of a sudden
you're the underdog and now you're hosting the deciding game
if you win that first one, and that's h and
that Roswell's Park and Moose Jaw too, is a bit
of a band box like it's. I mean, most of
the parks are in the league are pretty small, but
it is very intimate. And you know there's a one
building kind of in behind home plate that kind of

(32:06):
looms up a little bit too, and then there's a
lot of trees out in the beyond the outfield fence,
but feels kind of small too.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
I mean, I.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
Remember watching Carter Back hit homers there in the SPBL
a couple of years ago at a game.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
But it does.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
As a team that's the favorite, there's obviously going to
be some more pressure on you target on, especially the
season that the barriers have had. I don't think they're
going to have any issues with the focus of dialing
it in or anything. Plus, this is a team that
eliminated them last year, so there's a little bit of
that too. Of course, that was in the East Division
final that that in that scenario, Musja I think had the.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
Better record last year, did they not? Or the records
were very similar?

Speaker 5 (32:44):
If not?

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Yeah, so a lot different situation this time, Musja coming
in two games under five hundred uh to finish the season,
so very wide discrepancy in the records. And as you mentioned,
barries one seven of eight against mush.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
Jaw this season.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
So just to wrap up the berries talk, Unfortunately you're
not you're gonna be stuck with me on Wednesday, which,
of course that that game one is going to be
happened before this episode goes live. So we're in that
weird nether world where we're recording the episode before game one,
but it will not be released until the day of

(33:19):
game two, so we don't know. We'll just tell you
that game one you can't go to by the time
you're watching this, So should the series go three games?
He Hey, even if you want to travel down if
you're watching this on Thursday, you go see Game two
is at russ Wells Parking Moustra, so a long drive,
not a big gift down there. I sold John two
hours down the highway. Maybe maybe maybe you had ten
minutes on top of their stopping Chamberlain for some ice cream.

(33:42):
And then Game three, if necessary, will be Friday night.

Speaker 5 (33:46):
And of course we're also keeping an eye on the
weather because there's a lot of rain in the four
Oy Boy several days which could could read some havocs.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
I'm telling you, I spent the long weekend out in Alberta,
and it was the weather was very unsettled. Yeah, it
was very off and on. Most of the rain happened overnight,
which was good, but there was some pretty nasty storms too.
So hopefully they get all those games in on schedule.
Of course, this is the time of year where you
can't really can't really extend. These guys have places they

(34:12):
got to be. Yeah, there's only about a I think
it's like a three or four day window beyond the
scheduled end of the season where things can still happen
before you start to lose significant bodies. I mean, if
which comes to shove, that's where you get your aps,
I guess, but hopefully we don't get to that, and
hopefully the teams can play their proper the games of
their proper rosters and and all that stuff.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
So very exciting stuff. Keep tabs on, of.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Course, the very social media WCBO website Sastomberry's website for
all the latest on their playoff progress. They said at
the start of the year, there's nothing less than the championship,
you know. Joe Carnahan really said, like, I wasn't happy
with last year, even though they was their inaugural season
and they had.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
A great second half.

Speaker 5 (34:54):
First joke.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
But in this league, as you see, you get a
good team together, it doesn't take very long where you
can go from expansion team to powerhouse just like that.
It's a lot more fun than in the major leagues
where it takes like five to eight years.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
Golden Vegas gold Knights accepted to like earn your opportunity.
Oh my goodness, Marlin.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
Marlin's won a World Series pretty early, if we want
to stick with baseball to you, but it's pretty rare.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
It's pretty rare. Unfortunately.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
Something else that's pretty rare is speaking of playoffs, is
a Saskatchewan Ratlers playing playoff basketball. As we seamlessly shift
from baseball to basketball. It has been another tough year
for the Rattlers. We've I've talked about it, you know,
kind of every week on the show. Don't want to
be labor the point, but it's getting Uh. I won't

(35:46):
say dire because every year with this CEBL you just
never really know from year to year because of the
player and roster turnover. But it's been this issue for
the last three years now where the Ratlers and seem
to get even get to the play in game, let
alone into the playoffs six and fifteen. As we record

(36:07):
this episode, there will be a Rattler game Wednesday night
before this episode goes live as well. That's where we're
going to be on Wednesday as they host the Edmonton Stingers.
But let's just look at this season and what's what
have been your just your overall thoughts. Just to start
off with what as I kind of launched into the
sort of the sad, but like just big picture wise,
what have you seen from the Ratlers this year?

Speaker 5 (36:28):
I think first of all, before we launch into that,
I'm going to propose that we record four different versions
of this podcast. When where the berries win and the
Rattlers win. When where the berries win and the Rattlers lose,
one of the berries losing, the Ratlers whatever.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
The fourth choose your own adventure.

Speaker 5 (36:41):
Exactly, and then you just release that ahead the one
that's correct. Then we can have direct the alternate endings
spend the day here.

Speaker 4 (36:48):
The alternate takes the theoretical side of good sports.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
Yeah, but yeah, overall impressions, I mean, it was interesting
at the beginning of the year because obviously you and
I talk a lot about the progression of the team,
starting when when players start arriving, when they start building
the roster. And one of the things that was brought
in this year for the Canadian Elite Basketball League is

(37:14):
you have the designated player, which is sort of like
your franchise tag, and they their money doesn't really count
against the salary cap. So a lot of teams were
able to bring in and I don't know how public
that information is for other teams.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
Yeah, it's it's really the league is exists in a
kind of a funny space where they're still growing and
they're trying to emphasize all the positive things, and there
are many positive things about that, but some of the
stuff that might maybe cast them in a sort of
a more amateurish light. I feel like they maybe just
they just keep the keep.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
That down a little bit.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
So it's fair a lot of the transactions because I
think they try to emphasize the players that are on
the rosters versus the ones that are leaving, and that
kind of goes hand in hand with that is sort
of the player turnover and that sort of thing. So
so the designated player thing, they made a big thing
out of it. But yeah, in terms of like who's
the DP for different teams, you don't really know unless
you ask them, Yes, yeah.

Speaker 5 (38:09):
And so I don't really feel like, I mean, you know,
you look at recent years, you know, when you've had
guys like Jalen Harris who came in for part of
last season and left some great memories, Tony Carr, it
doesn't really feel like the Rattlers have had like the
guy this year, you know, Nate Pierre Louis. I thought

(38:30):
he was really good and had an interesting progression over
the course of the season where he kind of went
from the two guard to the one where and then
all of a sudden, well he's the best point guard
in league history. He sets the assist record, but and
then they lose him. He leaves the team recently, so
it's it's interesting, you know, that's the thing that happens

(38:53):
a lot, which is probably tough on fans, I would imagine.
And again, this isn't in any way to disparage the league.
It's just kind of the nature of when you have
a league that is playing in the off season. For
most of the other leagues, obviously this NBA Summer League
is going at the same time, but this is a
place for guys to come and play when the NBA

(39:13):
season isn't happening and before the season gets going in Europe.
It's a way to you know, get their profile out there.
It's a way to play games, it's a way to
get paid playing basketball. There's a lot of turnover in
this league, and the Rattlers are certainly not the only
team that feels that. I mean, the Vancouver bandit's just
lost it's like three or four players from their roster.
This is just something that happens. The flip side of

(39:36):
that is that the Rattlers have been this is something
we've talked about as well. They've played in a ton
of really close games. This could be a team that's
around five hundred and in a playoff spot without too
much difficulty. You know, they're in the tough spot as well.
With Winnipeg hosting the championship. I'm sure this is something
you've talked about as well. Winnipeg gets the automatic bid

(39:59):
into into the championship weekend, which makes sense because they're
they're the host team and we know why the league
does that because they want to draw a ton of
fans and Saskatchewan certainly benefited that from that in twenty
nineteen when they hosted the first ever championship. That's that's
just the way to go. It goes and those are
the realities of the league. And you know this as

(40:22):
I say, this team is better than their record. I mean,
you look at the way Jordan Bowden has played recently.
He's been phenomenal and they lost him for a little
bit of time, but he came back and credit him
for doing so. You know, it's I think some players
might have said, Okay, I've I left the team. It
was it was not a negative thing, but he had

(40:42):
family things that he was.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
He had a prior family committee.

Speaker 5 (40:45):
Yeah, exactly. You know, you think some guys might have said, yeah,
I don't know if I want to go back to
play for this losing team that's not making the playoffs.
And he came back and he's been amazingly. He's had
just a great run. And this is you know, you
look at players that have taken who steps forward, like
Isaac Simon showing he can play at the professional level.
You know, a guy from Regina plays for the University

(41:07):
of albert He's been great this year. You know, we've
had lots of guys. We've got guys like Devonte Bando
who've come back to Saskatoon because he's been here and
he knows what it's like. And I think I can
if they're able in future years to sell the benefits
of playing in Saskatoon a little bit, because I think,
quite honestly, that's a little bit of the problem is

(41:28):
maybe a lot of guys who have never even been
to Canada.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
Yeah, they're further away from their people.

Speaker 5 (41:33):
Exactly. It's like, well, if I'm going to Canada to play,
I want to play in Toronto, or I want to
play in Vancouver, or you know, at least maybe one
of the bigger cities like a Calgary or Edmonton. It's
maybe a bit of a tougher sell because it's not
their fault. They just don't know what Saskatoon is like.
They don't know what it has to offer. They don't
know what an incredible place it is to be in
the summertime. Sasatoon is the best place in the world

(41:54):
in the summertime, I think, but they don't know that.
So it can be tough to attract that talent, especially
if you're trying to do it in like February or
March and it's minus forty and get three feet of
snow here. It won't be like this and why guys,
I promise and.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
Most of the guys that come and they they love
it absolutely, Yeah, whether they're from other parts of Canada
or from the States as well, you know, further away
and you're ant anticivis from Australia for example. Yeah, the
reviews are overwhelmingly positive for the experience, not just the environs,
but the support, the practice facility, the accommodations. You know,

(42:31):
the Ratlers do a lot, make a lot of effort
to accommodate players who have family, yeah, that want to
be with them during the season. They pure Louis you
mentioned Jordan Bowden, both had their children with them here
this summer, and their their their partners as well. It
is it's it's just it's I think for fans and

(42:52):
even for those with the media, but we understand this
the sort of bigger picture a little bit better because
we're around the team and the league. But I think
for the average fan who's used to, you know, following
sports from year to year and their teams from year
to year and going okay, they just need to make
this move in the off season or whatever like, it's Unfortunately,

(43:13):
that's not how this league works. You can't look at
the twenty twenty four team and go, okay, we just
need to change this and this and this and our
wind tot should go up. We keep this and this
and this right because a lot of it has to
do with who's available, who's willing to play in the summer.
That's the off season for most pros. So the Rattlers

(43:33):
have done their best to get guys who are obviously
talented enough but also have the high character to kind
of stick with things through the ebbs and the flows
of the season.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
The roster turnover.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
But I think, you know, so, I think in some
ways it's it's kind of been almost a fluke that
this for the last three years in a row, they've
been outside of the playoffs and prior to that where
they want to play in game and then they lost
in the quarter finals. That was they hosted that play
and they beat Edmonton. That was twenty twenty one, and
then lost the next round. And so that's the closest

(44:05):
they've been since twenty nineteen. Because of course twenty twenty,
the bubble year was their worst. Yeah, that was well,
actually I wasn't They were one in thirteen in twenty two,
so that wasn't good either. But a part me was
that twenty one. I'm getting my years confusing. They had
a one in thirteen and twenty one. Sorry was the
play in game they won in twenty two and they've
missed twenty three, twenty four, and twenty five, right, so

(44:26):
the play in game they won in twenty twenty one
was winning percentage wise, is their worst season unless they
ever go winless, they'll never have a worse season than that.
That was a one in thirteen year, but that was
that was tough. You had a very inexperienced coach, and
she had jacobsiny didn't last the year, and the guy
that filled in for the rest of the year, Connor Dow,
wasn't really equipped either to so they've gone through a

(44:49):
succession of coaches. I think, really, if you're looking for
actual basketball stuff to look at this season specifically and
where things maybe went wrong or didn't go as right
as they would like, I think you have to look
at two things. I think for all the talk you
know made about designated player, yes, the Rallers don't have one.
They are, for those who don't know, one of two

(45:09):
teams in the league that are still sort of arms
length owned by the league by Canada Basketball Ventures, and
they have not been given the money to spend on
a designated player. So you can say, well, may that
hurts us, Maybe we can't take a guy who's outside
of the cap and just throw all the money out
of make sure he stays all season. But I think
the tout wise, they've had the talent. As we said,

(45:31):
a lot of close games, talent compete. But I think
what it comes down to is if you look at
each team and their points leaders, all the best teams
have a Canadian in the top two or three slots
in their scoring leaders point, whereas the ralliers. For the
last few years, it's been there three Americans or some
combination of three Americans depending what time of the year

(45:52):
it is, that have been leading the charge. And that
is I mean most teams are led by their import players,
but somewhere in there for the good ones, there is
a Candian player you know who's I think of the
Kasimi Sheito in Winnipeg for example, even though Winnipeg has
not had the best win loss record, but he's right
up there. He's one of their their top players. Uh
Sean Miller Moore with the Calgary surge Drugsy there's usually

(46:16):
a guy, you know, Kobe McEwan, not so much this year,
but last couple of years with with their with his teams.
So the Ralers if they can find a Canadian player
who can really consistently, and maybe it is DeVante Bandu
going into next year, maybe he wants to come back
because he's a guy who like liked playing here the
first time and wanted to come back. He wanted to
be here again this year. But he was signed by

(46:36):
Edmonton initially and then came over to Saskatchewan. Uh, but
that so that's one thing, and then the other thing
is this year specifically, there's been a been weak inside.
They haven't had enough a consistence, present, consistent president. This
isn't to you know, I'm up to slam. Their starting
center is Jayden Betiaco, who's been you're pretty much all

(46:57):
your you missed the first couple of games late arrival,
but he's been in ever since, and he's had some
very good individual games.

Speaker 4 (47:02):
He had a twenty twenty game.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
Very recently, but he's still only one year into his
professional basketball career. His for six games stint last year
with the Rallers were his first games as a pro,
so it's not fair to expect him to have all
this season. He's had one international season and he is
really in his first full season with the CBL. So
the twenty twenty game is great, but you can't lean
on him to do that every night. But the depth

(47:26):
behind him hasn't been there, and so where they've struggled
is when they've gon up against teams who have very
strong have two or three different big men that can
really play bullyball at both ends of the floor. And
I think because shooting, scoring like they can do it.
We saw them in the second half of their loss
against Winnipeg last week. At one point, all five guys
on the floor were just throwing fireballs and they were

(47:47):
on this massive run. Now they couldn't sustain it to
win the game, but they have plenty of talent to
score the basketball. But then they get beat inside and
then they don't have the Canadian depth, and they don't
have the bench depth, because that's what it drops off
to you. If you can eight or nine players deep,
it makes a huge difference.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Too.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
They had five bench points in their win over Edmonton
the other night.

Speaker 4 (48:05):
So that's not simply been a story not sustainable.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
So I mean, hey, if we could solve it like this,
we'd probably be be the next coaches. But not to
suggest they need a new coach either, but Eric rag
Dan's we love you.

Speaker 4 (48:16):
You're just absolutely and also a really good job.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
I do too, And I wanted to just circle back
and say the character this team too, has been a
lot of fun these players. The record has not been good,
but they've been real pleasure to deal with. It's probably
my favorite group.

Speaker 5 (48:30):
Yeah, it's been really good. I mean for me I'll
always go back to that twenty nineteen team, which of
course is one that holds a special place in the
heart because they won the title and that was the
first year and that was that was a really fun
team and Michael link later was on the team. You
know that was great. But you're right, just a great
bunch of guys. And you know we have this grouped

(48:50):
text between you and me and Amy Procop and Heather
Morrison and Cathron Hodson, the folks who are are kind
of on.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
The local local broadcast.

Speaker 5 (49:00):
Yeah, exactly, And you made a good point in it.
It's like, you know, that last game against Edmonton where
they came up with the big winn in target time.
You know, it's so great to see that heart and
that dedication. It hasn't gone away. I mean they've been
eliminated for a while now, it's been a couple weeks
they've been they've been still fighting hard in such such
a great win on the road against one of their

(49:21):
art rivals, and now they kind of find themselves in
spoiler mode, you know, trying to ruin other teams seasons
as much as they can, and you know, so far
they're taking advantage.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
Yeah, and I mean, and I didn't mention this in
the open in what's going on?

Speaker 4 (49:35):
And you briefly touched on it.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
The napier Luis has now left the team, and it's
I think it's always important too that people know because
the fans see these players come and go and say, oh,
is he's quitting A I think it's a pretty safe bet.

Speaker 4 (49:50):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
He did not tell me this himself, but I think,
just based on our interaction throughout the season, had the
Ratler still.

Speaker 4 (49:56):
Been in the mix, he would still be here.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
I think is a pretty pretty safe assumption, because essentially
what they did is they released him so he could
go sort of get situated. And again, he's got the partner,
he's got the wife, he's got the child. There's logistical
considerations there. I think, have they been in the mix
for playoffs, he probably doesn't leave when he does to
go sort of get a jump start, get settled for

(50:20):
his winter ball season because that's not starting right away.
But he set the CEBL single seas an assist record,
rawlers a out of the player, like, what's the there's
no point in him staying. Gives them another chance, a
chance to a little bit more Alex Garcia. Uh, but you
know people always rushed, especially when the team hasn't been
the playoffs for the last few years. Oh where'd he

(50:41):
jumped to now? Or is the greener pastures this?

Speaker 5 (50:44):
And that is like, no, this is also something we
have we see.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
Definitely have seen that.

Speaker 5 (50:48):
We have definitely seen that the case with me.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
But I think it's very I can feel very confident
in saying that's not the case with him. You mentioned
Jordan Bowden as well, you know, leaving for the three games,
that was a pre arranged thing before the season. Yeah,
and you know Barry Rollick the Rattlers GM, he came
over to me had a shoot around one day and
he said, who do you think is the most professional
player on this team? And it's like Barry has a
tendency to ask these loaded questions and you know you've

(51:12):
dealt them for a long time and you're like, is
this a test and what? But he basically, after we
threw a couple of names at him, he said, Jordan Bowden,
he said, he just handles everything super super professionally, and
you can see it. He comes back, he sticks, he
keeps his words, says, yeah, I'm just going for this.
I think it was his sister's wedding. It's important to
me to be there, but I will be back. Even
if the team's not doing well. He comes back and

(51:34):
he continues to play well, so a lot of positive signs.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Unfortunately, you and I will not get.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
A chance to be involved in any playoff games yet
again here this season.

Speaker 5 (51:43):
I am excited for the last two games of the
season that we do get to work. Two more games
coming up Wednesday night, which is apparently after you're seeing this.

Speaker 4 (51:52):
We had a lot of fun of that game.

Speaker 5 (51:55):
Wowsers and then one more on the tenth Son to
wrap up the regular season, and you know, I'm genuinely
looking forward to them because this team is still fun
to watch. They play buy and large, close games. You know.
One of the things that has been a struggle at
times is which is you know, almost a historical thing
as a target time. You know, it's one of my

(52:16):
favorite elements of the Canadian Nearly Basketball League is I
love target time. I think it's such it's the way
to play basketball. And the Rattlers haven't always managed that great.
They did a great job in their last game against Edmonton,
and so maybe they're figuring that out a bit. It's
this is a fun team to watch, it's a great atmosphere.
Definitely come on it. I mean, you know, obviously Ryan

(52:37):
and I would love it if you would watch our broadcast. Yeah,
but more importantly, get on out to set.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
Watch those highlights after you come to the game.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
That's you know, it is tough because you trying to
sell the fence setters, the casuals on coming to games,
and you really you just have to tell it comes
down to just like the product, because you don't know
from year to year what you're going to get. Even
within a season, things can fluctuate pretty wildly based on
who's in house at that given point in time. But

(53:04):
I mean, there are you know, two thousand or so
give or take, loyal fans that are pretty much gonna
come to every game and have shown they're going to
show up consistently win or lose. But this team really
needs a good playoff runner two to start getting those
other folks who are like, eh, I could go to
the lake this weekend or like whatever to get them
on board. So I know it's been a battle for

(53:26):
the organization and I know there's a lot of frustration there,
but I think they can take some solace in the
fact that they're identifying the right kinds of players. As
from a basketball sidey're identifying the right kinds of players
both in terms of what they can do on the court,
but in terms of how they operate in the locker room,
the character that they have in the community and in
the community as well. You just kind of have to go,

(53:48):
all right, who can we get to come back next year?
Because you do want to have a you want two
or three guys you can say I remember this guy
from last year or the year before. But also if
they could just kind of fire out the gates next
season win a couple of games, that would go a
long way too. I know it's hard for me to
try to sell people on that, but it's just it
really is. Every year early is a brand new year.
You can't take history into account, yeah, when you go

(54:10):
into a new season. Unfortunately, uh, you know, history did
kind of repeat itself this year with the team. But
I feel like the vibe around the team is a
lot more positive, I would agree this year than it
has been the last couple of years. And you know,
a lot nobody's hanging their heads and they're saying, you know,
we'ld be'd like to see more wins, absolutely, but we're
still gonna play hard and uh and do what we're

(54:30):
getting paid to do it just play basketball. So it's
a game paid to play it, so.

Speaker 5 (54:34):
And it's good basketball. It's like high level. Like these
guys are often guys who've played in the NBA, these
are guys who played in the G League, Like these
are among the most talented basketball players on the planet
who either you know, haven't quite gotten that chance or
had it briefly and then circumstances didn't work in the favor.
But man, oh man, it's it's fun to watch, like

(54:54):
these are really talented athletes.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
And I love your enthusiasm for Target Time as well,
because I love it. Do you feel like this is
just a kind of just popped into my head But
it's a kind of a bugaboo for me now because
the league is in year seven and this is sixth year,
sixth year of Target Time because the introduced it for
the bubble season in twenty twenty during COVID, So you know,
we'll can wipe that out because there was no fans

(55:17):
of those games and there was only it was only
six game tournament basically season.

Speaker 4 (55:21):
But this is so five.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
Real years of target score? Do you think we need?
Like I feel like we're sometimes still explaining target score
like it's the first year. And sometimes I'm like, we
need as a league to like be like we are
established and sort of like conduct ourselves like you just
assume that. I mean, there's stuff you gotta explain about,
like are we still going through the finer points of

(55:43):
target time?

Speaker 4 (55:44):
Yere like?

Speaker 5 (55:44):
And I think that's a realization the league has had
over the last couple of seasons because we used to have,
you know, the ad that played right before we start
into target time, which is still there, but then we'd
have our sideline reporter also explained it. So that's not
really part of it anymore. So this true league is
going with what you're saying. You know, it's like, okay, people,
people should know by now, and you know it's not

(56:06):
like super high level concept. You know, it's we even
out of the break without the sideline reporter explaining it.
We kind of do just by saying, okay, target scores
plus nine, so they have eighty nine points. So the
target scores now ninety eight that's really all you need
to know. First team to ninety eight wins.

Speaker 3 (56:26):
It's been fun to watch the evolution of target scores strategy, yeah,
these last couple of years especially, and I've really noticed
to pick up this year where you know, the team
that's ahead in target time and maybe within or going
about to get where you're about to get, especially not
even in target time, but leading up to target time.
You know, if you're a team with a healthy lead

(56:47):
and you just want to get to target, you don't
want to let the team catch up any closer before
you get to target.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
We're starting to see more.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Intentional fouling going on before target to get to that
whistle just to start target time. And you're just starting
to see those shifts in the approach from the coaching
staffs the players that are more used to playing in
it too.

Speaker 4 (57:07):
So that's been a lot of fun to kind of
watch that evolution.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
The rallers a couple of times, including this the most
recent win against Edmonton, within two of the target and
then shooting a three. Yeah, in one case they were
one away here in auto against autowat here at home.
But sometimes you didn't take the shot, you get the
shot and it was a wild scramble that led to
the winning three there by bout and against Edmonton.

Speaker 5 (57:27):
But the shot selection a couple of times hasn't hasn't
been great, hasn't been ideal. But you also understand it's
like you want to be the guy that hits that
hero shot or you know, you think you have the opening.
But it's there's a real art to target time. And
I think that's something I didn't necessarily even appreciate in
the early years when when we first have and it's
you're right, it's something that's really evolved. You know, Winnipeg

(57:49):
actually brought in the guy who invented target time used
to be called Elm time, so he's now consulting with them,
like this is it's almost a different game. It's still basketball,
but it's the strategy. You're right. It's it's a thing.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
The Americans who are here for the first to come
up and play their first time in the league, they
always go, oh, that's that's different. Maybe I saw it,
maybe I saw it in you know, the Big Three
Tournament or something, yeah, something, But there's some basic passing
familiarity with the concept. But guys who haven't played in
it just like or like, oh.

Speaker 5 (58:24):
And that's an interesting thing. You know, this just popped
into my brain. You know, I don't know if this
is something that you've talked to players about, but for
guys who are accustomed to not playing in target time,
they're used to you know, if a game's close late,
they're gonna get like seven or eight time outs down
the stretch, got a chance to catch their breath, a
chance to kind of regroup. That's gone now. I wonder

(58:46):
if what kind of impact that has had on them.
Is that something you've talked at all about with.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
No but's it's a really good point.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
Yeah, you know, I think the fact that it's already
a shorter game as a feba forty minute game or
a thirty six plus target time rearly when when you
get into it, so you'd hope that your bench has
been managed pretty your rotation has been managed pretty well.
But I mean on a team like the Rallers who
don't have a deep bench, you know, there are guys
a lot of other guys are playing over thirty minutes.

Speaker 4 (59:10):
Yeah, so it can it can't get into it.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
And the other thing is too that you got your
one challenge for the entire game, win or lose. So
some coaches you know, might hang onto that give themselves
an extra time out. Oh yeah, and targets score long,
Yeah yeah, because you get two timeouts a piece in
target score. You do get for two. Whether you've used
timeouts previously or not, you get two plus. You know,

(59:33):
you can have your one coaches challenge. But that's always
interesting too to see the guys that don't understand the differences.
It's not NBA review rules. It's not you can't challenge
to upgrade a foul. You know, there's stuff like that.
You can challenge the NBA. You can challenge it.

Speaker 4 (59:47):
So yeah, it's it's fun.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
I think it keeps the players invest engaged and invested
with those subtle, not so subtle in some cases, rual differences. Well,
we'll hope for a strong season, strong finish to the
season for the Rallers, and then we'll of course look
ahead and see what the team looks like and into
twenty twenty six and what the playoff format is going
to look like too, or the championship weekend, because as
I've been told, as I understand, this is the last

(01:00:11):
year that the host is getting that automatic.

Speaker 5 (01:00:13):
Oh, I hadn't heard.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
I have been hearing that through the grapevine, including I
believe our colleague Heather Morrison.

Speaker 4 (01:00:19):
I don't want to put that all on her, but
it's your fault.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
She works those national games, she gets to hear the
buzz a little bit more from the league side. And
because this is the second straight year that the Championship
Weekend host has had a sub five hundred season, and
it takes first of all, it takes some of the
air out of the balloon in terms of the playoff races,

(01:00:43):
but it also for that team means there's no stakes
for the entire season. And so what you're seeing with
Winnipeg this year, And I don't know how much of
this is the fact that they're hosting Championship Weekend and
how much of this is just the Winnipeg Sea Bears
and how the organization and kind of operates. But it's
been like even for the CEBL the turnover, it's been

(01:01:05):
like a subway turnstyle where their roster like that the
team that played the Rattlers over the weekend, there was
like two or three guys that were on the team
that played them the.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
First time they met. This season.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Because they have their final four berth. As sured Mike Taylor,
the head coach at GM, there you can just move
guys in and out and try to find the right
mix for a team that can win you two games
at the end of the season. Regardless they could go
oh in twenty four. They're not going to go ow
in twenty four, but they're gonna finish below five hundred
and yet all they have to do is win. So

(01:01:39):
I think it's the smart It was smart for the
league to have that set up because obviously, as you mentioned,
tickets got a host city build buzz throughout the season.
But I think they're realizing that it's more valuable to
have the four best teams in the final four. And
if that means that your runway for promoting championship weekend
is a little shorter, or determining who where that is

(01:02:00):
is a little shorter, you could still have a designated host,
but you just don't guarantee the team in that city.
But I don't know exactly how you would work it,
but for what I understand, the host is not getting
that automatic berth anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:02:12):
If I were in Winnipeg, I'd be going just to
see chaos at halftime because man.

Speaker 4 (01:02:15):
Chaos, Chaos.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
Great Hawai A Mighty is performing at Championship weekend as
well in the day before Sean Desmond. A lot of
great stuff or even the non basketball types. And it's
not even all just the music. It's like a street festival.
It's a good time. So it'll be interesting to see
how they tweak think the format going forward, because it
did take a lot of the you know, the air out,
Like the Ratlers would have been in a playoff chase

(01:02:37):
right still because they're close to Winnipeg and the standings
and they would have been fighting Winnipeg for that last
Western Conference that play in game.

Speaker 5 (01:02:44):
And who knows how that would have affected their roster moves.

Speaker 3 (01:02:47):
And you know, Nay pier Luis, you know, all these
dominoes could have fallen in different ways. But I think
that's a smart choice by the league to scrap that.
If that is in fact what they're doing, we'll see
how things look in twenty twenty six. All Right, we
got our bears dinner, Rattlers. I did want to. I
gave you a little homework assignment. I gave you one

(01:03:08):
more day on this homework asignment. Then I gave John Fraser,
who completed this same homework assignment.

Speaker 4 (01:03:14):
Well, we'll see.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
I'm not going to cast any aspersions on his picks,
but he did slightly misinterpret the assignment. So there's a
little opening here where you excellent. But for those who
didn't see the episode with John, of course, we're compiling.
I here at Good Sports are our best of sasin
sports for this quarter century.

Speaker 4 (01:03:33):
Quarter I guess it's not a quarter millennium.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
It's a lot less than a quarter of a millennium,
but the first twenty five years of this millennium. And sorry,
I gave you six categories and for those of this
male athlete, female athlete, best coach, best team, best highlight
or moment or play. That's sort of there's a little
room for interpretation there, and then best uniform or logo.

(01:03:59):
Also pretty there's a room. Really, there's room for interpretation here,
and there are pretty broad categories. So I wanted you
to weigh John and I made our lists. We're gonna
keep adding other people's choices to these lists and maybe
we'll come up with a consensus over time. I feel
like we're not going to come up with the consensus again.
It's more fun to not.

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
Come up with the consolutely it is. So since I've
already made my picks, I'll kind of give you mine
as we go. That I've already made. I'm not going
to change mine.

Speaker 5 (01:04:26):
But let me start unless I talk you into it. Well,
what if I make such a convincing argument that you go.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
It's possible. It's possible. I want to start with your
your top coach pop coach. Yeah, let's start there. I'll
save the athletes for the last two. Sure sounds build
towards those.

Speaker 5 (01:04:42):
Uh, there are several candidates. Now, when I was looking
at athletes, I decided to focus on people who were
born in Saskatooes. So hopefully that's what you wanted me
to do.

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
I didn't necessarily need to pin you down that that narrowly,
but I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (01:04:59):
It was any shape or form of representing Sasketon.

Speaker 5 (01:05:02):
Okay. So, like John, I've maybe misinterpreted.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
No, no, you have you have hyper interpreted. I think
so you're he had some like Saskatchewan. Okay, that was like,
I'll tell you who he picked in the coch categories
as we go. But no, so that's you. You you
just kind of you narrowed your fight this which is
which is what you're still.

Speaker 5 (01:05:21):
With it the way for me to make the homework
easier for myself, I will find.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
It to me that would make it tougher tougher. But yeah, okay,
so that said, I.

Speaker 5 (01:05:31):
Didn't do that with coaches though, because I one of
my first thoughts is, how do you have a discussion
about the best coaches in the history of Saskatoon and
you don't have Lisa to Midas in that discussion. I mean,
what she did with that University of Saskatchewan program, and
you and I've both gotten to see it as well
as anyone because we've been the play by play guys

(01:05:52):
for for the Saskatchewan Huskies. I started doing it in
twenty ten, I think, which was their first championship.

Speaker 4 (01:05:59):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:05:59):
And you know, we've we've seen we we've seen the
way that program has gone because when she arrived in Saskatoon,
this program was terrible and she built it up and
all the credit goes to her. I mean, obviously she
you did it by bringing in great players who've won
the championships. But you know, Lisa Tomidas I think is
maybe at the top of my list a couple other

(01:06:22):
names that popped into my brain. Tom Sergeant.

Speaker 4 (01:06:26):
I mean, you.

Speaker 5 (01:06:27):
Gotta talk about Sarge, because that Hilltops program is phenomenal,
and I I almost think that in Saskatoon in a
weird way, the Hilltops get taken a little bit for
granted because they are so good and so consistently good
year after year. It's like, oh, Hilltops are in the
Canadian ball. Yeah, that's that's where they're supposed to be.

(01:06:49):
And I don't know if people really necessarily appreciate how
good of a job Tom Sergeant does year in year out.

Speaker 3 (01:06:58):
A couple things, but I think I want to cut
you off if you have another coach you mentioned, But
first of all, you and I are in lockstep on
Lisa Tomidas. So that's two votes for Lisa Tomidas in
the coaching category. So I don't think any much more
needs to spaid about that. A little slight collection. I
think their first ken west Side was six.

Speaker 5 (01:07:15):
I was talking about their national title, right.

Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
First national title was twenty sixteen men.

Speaker 3 (01:07:20):
The men won nationals in twenty ten, which is what
you're which is what you're remembering that there was.

Speaker 4 (01:07:24):
It was at national championships.

Speaker 3 (01:07:25):
Even that was the men's the men's won and only
national Yeah, the women winning in sixteen twenty and then
this year are their.

Speaker 4 (01:07:30):
Three national championships.

Speaker 3 (01:07:32):
But yes, leist Wiitas, I mean yeah again not from here,
but she's she's one of us. She's been here long enough,
she's one of us, one of us. She's not a
freak though, not like that movie. And then on the
Tom Sergent thing, I think something that gets overlooked when
you talk about the Hilltops dominance is that that has

(01:07:53):
been sustained through more than one era of Canadian junior football.
Those who don't paid much at ten into it may
not realize, but out East Ontario, especially Ontario, well, first
of all, Quebec has sage app their school format is different.
They've never really been a part of Canadian junior football
because of the structure of minor football and the age

(01:08:14):
categories and stuff. It's I don't even I don't know
enough of the ins and outs, but it's different, and
so they've never really had a competed in the junior
landscape nationally. Ontario has kind of gone through they've kind
of gone back and forth on their age maximum age limit,
which has at times rendered them ineligible as a conference

(01:08:35):
to compete for the Canadian Bowl. And so if there
has been a time where you know the or there
only been certain teams that are eligible. So there's been
a time there was a period of time where the
Canadian Bowl, the National Championship was essentially a Western Canadian Championship,
was the PFC champion against the BCFC champion.

Speaker 4 (01:08:53):
There's a chunk of years.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
There where Ontario Football Conference did not without eligible. They've
returned to their age capacity age limits where they now
can't compete again. So the Hilltops have won national titles
in both of those situations, so it doesn't take anything
away from the ones they won when Ontario wasn't in
the mix. If you look at the scores of some
of the national championship games against Ontario teams, they were

(01:09:15):
beating the doors off those teams too. Their biggest rival
at a conference generally has been the Okanagan Sun or
the Langley Rams. There was a time way back when,
early probably maybe in Tom Sergeant's days as the head coach,
where winsor Ako Frattman were a pretty good program out
East London had a pretty good team befeeders, but mostly
it's Western, but still doesn't take anything away from every year.

(01:09:37):
Like I had to do double take to remind myself
they lost last year in the PSC final. They were
undefeated and then they got upset by Regina, and now
they're getting ready to try to get back to it
this year. So I love the sergeant to mention as well.
That may have been John's choice of memory.

Speaker 5 (01:09:53):
Served back and forth because like Tom Sergent is more
of a local guy if you want that right here.
Oh yeah, when I was in high school, when I
went to Waltim Maury Collegiate here in Saskatoon, he was
our assistant basketball coach when I was in grade ten.
I've known him since I was like fifteen. Yeah, and
uh yeah, so I love life.

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
Did you have any other coaches you wanted to name
drop there?

Speaker 5 (01:10:16):
Maybe just an honorable mention to Brian.

Speaker 3 (01:10:17):
Towers, Yes, Itch, Itch, just the legacy is incredible, incredible
at one point the winning is coaching university football in
this country now number two on that list, but certainly
still had a canadi Football Hall of Famer. How can
you go wrong there with him? And also glad that
he in the Huskies. Everything all got Yeah, smoothed over,

(01:10:38):
and you know, he's been properly honored, and as he
is still very involved in the alumni side, because there
was some fears there in the year or two after
he was sort of nudged out a little bit that
that that those Burgers Bridges were burnt.

Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
Glad to see that not the case.

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
They named a name the street after him, and then
he's a he's a fixture there now as an alumni
and former coach, which is great.

Speaker 4 (01:10:59):
Uh okay, great picks.

Speaker 3 (01:11:01):
Let's move on to team, your your top team, and
this can be I mean, I didn't give you any
other parameters, but I will say this right now, it
can be any We're kind of looking at one season
for a team. But if you went, if you went,
because I didn't specify, so if you went, sort of
body of work, I'll allow that to because I did
not give you that that specific element to criteria there.

Speaker 5 (01:11:21):
Sure, if it's body of work, it's probably the Hilltops. Yeah,
I mean, it's it's tough to pick anyone else. They've
been so good, although stronger even can be made for
the US women's basketball team because they're consistently great. I mean,
they're in the playoffs everywhere they're often winning Canada West,
they're playing for a national title if not winning it.
So both both strong candidates. I have to admit my

(01:11:46):
specific season knowledge isn't as strong when it comes to
the Hilltops because while I did do some cover that
and obviously pay attention to it, I also often have
a brain like a sieve where information just disappears. Like
this is one of my real failings as a play
by play guy. Is I think when I go to
sleep after calling a game, my brain does a bit
of a cleanse.

Speaker 4 (01:12:06):
It's just dumped.

Speaker 5 (01:12:07):
Yeah, Like I live in perpetual fear that someone will
try to talk to me about last year's Rattler's team
because it's like Maurice Khalu. Yeah so because, And I
think it's just because, And you know what it's like
being a play by play guy. Although you're much better
at retaining this information than I am somehow, so kudos

(01:12:29):
to you for for doing that.

Speaker 4 (01:12:30):
Is not a lot else of value going on.

Speaker 5 (01:12:33):
I've got way more more trivia.

Speaker 3 (01:12:35):
Yeah yeah, more of a life stuff going on in
your head.

Speaker 5 (01:12:39):
Well you're kind to say so, I don't know if
it's true, but so in terms of identifying a specific
Hilltops team, I probably couldn't do it. But you know
that that as you corrected me, the twenty sixteen women's
national team was phenomenal. Uh. You know that was the
one where where Laura Dalley came in and you know
it was a great tea and then they added one

(01:13:01):
of the best players in the country. And so if
it was one season, it might be that first women's
national championship team for the Huskies.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
I mean, and who knows if it finishes the way
they're hoping this Saskatoon Berry season would have. Well, I
was going to say it is going to make a
strong case for itself if it finishes with the championship.
If you put together the record and they finish it off,
that's going to go down as one of the best
single seasons for a local team.

Speaker 4 (01:13:27):
You're right, I did.

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
When we did this exercise with John, I did go
way into the weeds on the Hilltops because I ended
up and I don't have it in front of me.
There was which year I picked, but because I they
had four years just since two thousand where they went
won a Canadian Bowl without losing a game. So even there,
I couldn't be like, oh, here's the one they won
when they went undefeated, Well, they did it four times.

(01:13:49):
So then I was literally going into like the scores
of each of their games and like, how they're points
four and against that year, I think I think we
ended up with twenty eighteen. I think was the year
where they were the most dominant you know, offensively, defensively,
and didn't lose the whole seaton. I wish I should
have brought the note out because the numbers that I
brought out for that were just like eye popping in
terms of like how many times they gave up double

(01:14:12):
digit points It was like twice all year, and like
how many they only scored fewer than forty like three
times that year, and yet the National Final is our
closest game of the season. It was like twenty nine
to eleven or anyway, or twenty nine to nine.

Speaker 4 (01:14:23):
It was. They were so dominant.

Speaker 3 (01:14:25):
But yeah, it's like it's like picking a you know,
your favorite ice cream flavor at that point too, It's
like they're all all good choices, several seasons of being
the best a team could possibly do. Yeah, okay, all right,
well save the athletes for last let me give me
your favorite, and may this was maybe just one, then
you have a fond memory of I like this one

(01:14:45):
because it doesn't there's no right or wrong answer to this,
and there isn't really to any of these, but especially
this one is the best highlight or play or moment.
I say moment too, because it might be like a
player just got really like I was. I cited Logan
Reader hitting you know, eleven threes in a game this
past season. That's an extended moment of sorts. So it's
on one player highlight, but it's a full set of

(01:15:06):
them that makes one moment.

Speaker 4 (01:15:07):
So what would what? What did you identify? For me?

Speaker 5 (01:15:11):
It's and I don't know if you're the same way,
because again I feel like, as opposed to me, you
have a much wider breadth of knowledge. You know much
more about a lot of sports, and you've covered much
more sports than I have. I always go back to
the moments where I was there, and it's very lucky
again during my career to be at some just amazing

(01:15:32):
moments and amazing events. So a few things popped in
my into my brain. The first one, this isn't my winner,
but just the general brit thing. Brit is amazing shoulder. Yeah, yeah,
I've gotten to call. I don't know how many games.

Speaker 4 (01:15:49):
I may have.

Speaker 3 (01:15:50):
I may have played that strategically today excellently.

Speaker 5 (01:15:52):
Called dozens of game. But that atmosphere is so incredible.
It's the essence of amateur athletics, but such a high level.
And the atmosphere in that gym, You're drenched in sweat
even though it's minus fifty. Usually Kelly Bowers is over
there yelling at someone. It's that atmosphere is incredible. That
is It's absolutely one of my favorite things. Even though

(01:16:14):
I haven't been with Shaw Slash Rogers for a couple
of years now, like this past year, I was able
to go back and call Brit again, which was which
is just great. I love it. One another event that
really will always stand out for me is the two
thousand and six vany A Cup in Saskatoon, when, again,
even though it was early November when it's typically not
crazy cold.

Speaker 4 (01:16:35):
It was crazy cold.

Speaker 5 (01:16:37):
Yes, you know, in the legend and I know I
didn't see this happen, but the legend is a football
was punted in pregame warm ups and it exploded. I
believe it it's possible it happened. That was the coldest
I've ever been in my life, and I've spent three
quarters of the game inside our production truck, which was
there helping assist with the TSN broadcast of the Van
y A Cup. But that was just such an amazing

(01:16:58):
fun event. It led to the revitalization of the whole
Griffith Stadium area and it's that event. Even though the
game didn't go as planned, but the Huskies were in it.
Crowd again was great, even though the conditions weren't ideal,
that was super fun something I'll always remember. I'm going
to go to a game though for my choice, where

(01:17:20):
Canada actually lost. Oh, I'm going to the World Junior
Championships in twenty tensed in Saskatoon. And again I feel
I'm so incredibly grateful for what I've been able to
be a part of and be a witness to during
this career of my mind. It's been amazing. You know.

(01:17:42):
They had the media section at the World Junior Championships
at what is now Sasktel Center, like basically in the
corner kind of behind one of the nets, and somehow
we ended up It was me and Matthew Prefontaine from
Shaw and we ended up in like the third row,
like we had just an amazing view of this incredible game.

(01:18:04):
And the goal where Canada tied it late in the
third period was like right in front of us, and
I've never heard a noise like that in my life.
Absolutely packed building. Building goes up and like your ears
hurt because it's like, okay, we're probably heading to overtime,
and that's what happened. And then in overtime the United

(01:18:25):
States wins it. And again that happens right like fifteen
feet away from me.

Speaker 4 (01:18:28):
John Carlson, I want to say.

Speaker 5 (01:18:30):
I will say you say so, I will believe it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:33):
He definitely scored a really big goal against Canada, and
the junior.

Speaker 5 (01:18:36):
Sounds right and just the opposite of that. I've never
felt the air go out of a building so completely
as that happened. And it was you know, obviously it
wasn't the result any of us wanted, but it was
still so impactful just to be a part of it,
just to see that, and the only noise you heard
in the building was the American players celebrating it and

(01:18:56):
everybody else just so that's that's the moment that I'll
probably remember till the day I die.

Speaker 3 (01:19:02):
That's a good that's a good pick, even if it
was the bad guys it came out, but it's a memorable.

Speaker 5 (01:19:08):
I I do have American citizenship. My entire family is American,
but I'm not a secret double agent against Kansas.

Speaker 3 (01:19:15):
Is going to be your last appearance on the show?

Speaker 5 (01:19:18):
I can't help.

Speaker 3 (01:19:22):
All, right, best uniform or logo or something visual?

Speaker 5 (01:19:27):
Yeah, I for this one. This one was tough. Like
I really started thinking about all the teams here obviously
and going through them, and you know, there's been some
fun ones over the years, Like I remember the Blades
did a Star Wars night which was kind of fun.
Remember that they were kind of goofy looking, but uh,
like I was really trying to remember one that stuck
with me and was like, oh, they did this right,

(01:19:50):
And I think what that means is it represents the
team well, it represents the city well, and it's not
just like a kitchy fun thing, like it's actually like,
oh that was cool. That was well done. Like for
the Berries on the Weekend. Actually, again, we might be
talking about this Berry's team for years to come. It's possible,

(01:20:12):
but don't want to get too much into the whole
recency bias side of things. So the Berries did a
hockey jersey and they were phenomenal looking. I absolutely loved them.
I was thinking about bidding on one, but for the
one that meets all those criteria where it's a good
looking uniform, it was well thought out, it has some
meaning for the team, for the city, for the community

(01:20:32):
at large. I'm going with the Rattlers star blanket jersey.

Speaker 4 (01:20:35):
Oh nice, good pick, good pick.

Speaker 5 (01:20:37):
It's amazing, Like it's such a I feel like it was.
It was well thought out, and obviously, you know every sport,
I feel like teams in Saskatoon are doing a really
good job about embracing the truth and reconciliation side of things,
and you know, acknowledging mistakes that have been made in
the past and hopefully not just playing lip service, just

(01:20:59):
working within digit in his communities and moving forward, actually
taking it seriously. And I believe in my heart that
that is by and large the case. This is something
that is important to teams in this city, and I
think the Rattlers really got it right with the star
blanket jersey, which has I believe is the mate characters

(01:21:19):
up here. It has the star blanket design. All children matters.

Speaker 4 (01:21:24):
All children, every child, every child matters.

Speaker 5 (01:21:27):
On the back of the jersey money going to residential
school survivors. I think that they really got that right.
And I don't want to be like the well, this
is important and this is a society thing, and so
that's why this is good. Those are great, beautiful, they
are sharp, they are beautiful, and I think they absolutely

(01:21:48):
nailed it in every aspect.

Speaker 4 (01:21:50):
That is really well thought out choice.

Speaker 5 (01:21:54):
Thanks.

Speaker 3 (01:21:54):
I well, admittedly did not give it quite that depth
of thought. I my pick was the team Kleider Pants,
which I you know, I'll still still ride with.

Speaker 4 (01:22:05):
But I love that.

Speaker 3 (01:22:07):
Rathers have had some really good jerseys, the the White
Northern Lights edition. I really like tribute to the Saskatoon Slam.
But I love the extra reasons why you chose to
start black at one. I think that's a fantastic choice.
All right, final two are the best female, best male athlete.

(01:22:28):
This is obviously almost an impossible question answer because you're
looking at individuals and team sports, individuals who compete in
individual sports every sport. Where did you land on? Let's
go with the male athlete first.

Speaker 5 (01:22:40):
So again, because I did focus on people born in Saskatoon, which.

Speaker 4 (01:22:45):
This is where Johnny kind of went off off script.

Speaker 5 (01:22:48):
Case like somebody if this guy touched down at the
Saskatoon Airport once a layover. So you know, I went
with a guy who again not to focus too much
on the things that have been a part of my
life too much. I actually went to elementary school with
this guy and he went on to win Olympic medals

(01:23:10):
at two different Olympics in rowing. I'm going with Jake Wetsle.

Speaker 4 (01:23:13):
Ooh wow, Jake wetsle Yeah. Pick now.

Speaker 5 (01:23:17):
And one of the things that I'll also mention in
addition to my media work is I also worked for
several years with the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame and
UH for many years after after Kevin Waugh, who used
to be with CTV, entered the world of politics, he
entered his first election ever. For years, he had been
the guy who kind of wrote the script along with

(01:23:39):
Ned Powers for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame. Sorry,
I'm getting deep into the weeds here. This is more.

Speaker 4 (01:23:44):
These are some major datu These.

Speaker 5 (01:23:47):
Are if you if you followed sports the last fifty
seventy five years in Saskatoon. You know Ned Powers they
used to get together and put it together. Kevin entered
the word world of politics. So they said, you know what,
we don't really want to show shine a spotlight on
him as he was in the middle of an election
when the ceremony is going to be happening. So they
asked me to step in, and so Ned and I
worked together on it for several years, and then I

(01:24:09):
did it on my own for several years, writing the script,
putting the videos together, and then at the ceremony, I
was the citation reader. So basically I would time it out,
the pictures or video would play behind me, and I
would read all about these athletes career, phenomenal event. Loved
doing it each and every year. A ton of work.
One of the things I really appreciated is it really
opened my eyes to people, but more so sports that

(01:24:33):
don't get the attention they deserve. And it's a fastaon
Sports Hall of Fame has done a phenomenal job of
shining that spotlight on stories that people don't know when
they should know about our sporting history here in Saskatoon.
And you know, this was one where you know, one
of my last years of doing it, which was a
few years back. Jake Wetzel got inducted, and you know,

(01:24:57):
he was an elite rower, went to how I believe
in the States is one of the best rowers in
American college history. He actually rode internationally for both the
United States and Canada one medals I believe it was
the two thousand and eight twenty twelve Olympics. I mean,
that's a that's a resume that's pretty tough to beat

(01:25:17):
in you know, rowing is one of those sports where
there's a lot of countries in the world that are
really good at rowing. And you know, Jake Westell went
and won two medals and I got to say to
him at the ceremony when he got inducted, It's like, Jake,
it's Simon. We went to elementary school one thousand years together.
And yeah, so he is my pick. And I'm fully

(01:25:38):
willing to admit that's a little bit of an honor.

Speaker 4 (01:25:40):
I think that's a great pick.

Speaker 3 (01:25:41):
And that's what that's kind of what you're saying about
all the underrepresented sports and athletes is that's kind of
what this show is kind of based around as well,
celebrating all all of those things.

Speaker 4 (01:25:53):
Well you do.

Speaker 3 (01:25:54):
I do what one person can do anyways, And it's
funny because I had I don't know, you know, his
name definitely would have come back when I was making
my considerations, but I had a Jamie Epp was my
Oh sure was my pick. Although he didn't metal of Olympics,
but he won so many different UH national championship medals
in U sports, track and field and UH and the

(01:26:15):
fifteen hundred, which to me is a great showcase of
athleticism too is Eden stamina combo there, But again that's
a category. There's so many great choices. I say, John,
I was to talk about going a little off off base.
He's somehow poke check he picked an athlete, but he
for some reason got his head he was picking Saskatchewan. Oh,
so he went with Patrick Marlowe, who's like the number

(01:26:36):
two UH scoring NHL or from Saskatchewan behind Brian Trucchi.
He had a very good case that he made behind
him on this I know Gordy how it would be
would be I think third on that list really yeah,
in terms of points because Patrick barlow played like a
for a long time so to Gordy how but different
eras too. But either way, neither of us picked Guardy
how so.

Speaker 5 (01:26:56):
He's still he wasn't in the last quarter century exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:26:59):
We couldn't pick. Yeah, so he's not on the board
for anyone to pick. That's what that took, because that
would be like the obvious if we were going all time.

Speaker 4 (01:27:06):
But I think everyone would just see the word on.

Speaker 3 (01:27:11):
All right, last, but certainly not least female athlete. You're
picked from the last twenty five years.

Speaker 5 (01:27:15):
You know. And again I went with a Saskatoon person.
And there's a few good candidates, and one that I
kind of wrestled with with for a while was kayl
and Kyle phenomenal soccer player. Uh, done a a great
job promoting the game. Uh, you know, she'd become an
excellent broadcaster as well, and obviously phenomenal soccer player. And

(01:27:39):
but my actual one that I'm going with is a
little bit of a cheat because maybe you could argue
her dominance happened at the end of the last quarter century,
but it really continued into the beginning. You're going to
sell who I'm going with in the beginning of this
quarter century. Still phenomenal also became a great broadcaster, great
ambassador for sport. I'm going with Katrina Lea Meido.

Speaker 4 (01:27:59):
Yeah yeah, and I.

Speaker 3 (01:28:02):
Thought about picking her as well, and ultimately because more
of her Olympic success came in in the ninety eight Olympics,
but I definitely spent a long time on it. I
ended up going with Shelby Nwkirk, who I wanted to
throw some parasport representation as well, but oh sorry no,

(01:28:23):
but but Katrina let me do it. I mean again,
if you're just going all time Saskatoon athletes, Gordy hak
Katrina let me done like is a pretty tough duo
to top.

Speaker 4 (01:28:33):
I think when.

Speaker 5 (01:28:34):
You're sorry when you said parasport, it made me remember
that I wanted to give a mention to Erica Gable. Yes,
who you know, a phenomenal basketball player for the University
of Saskatchewan Howski. She was a part of that first
national championship team for that's right. I still have a
photo of her and LT posing with the trophy. And
then she went on to become an amazing Paralympic athlete.

Speaker 3 (01:28:56):
Yeah, wheelchair basketball and yeah from Prince Albert, but you're right,
a long time husky from Prince Elbert. But you know
what we generally include Prince Albert in the Sasatoon and area.
I feel because he doesn't have a larger city. There's
no larger city to the north of us, so we
kind of like I like to think the show represents
sort of like Saskatoon and area, and then like sort

(01:29:16):
of that extends northward as well, especially for something like this.

Speaker 4 (01:29:20):
Erica gavell very good.

Speaker 3 (01:29:22):
I did a feature on her back when I was
like global about because she was also for a while
a co chair of the Paralympic Athletes Advisory Council as
well on a national level, and she just a very
high achiever in life in general and yeah great injury injuries.

Speaker 4 (01:29:39):
Ended her her her.

Speaker 3 (01:29:41):
Stand up basketball career, but she was able to classify
as a wheelchair a basketball athlete and two Paralympic games
I believe as a wheelchair basketball athlete as well.

Speaker 5 (01:29:53):
We called a bunch of Husky games together as well.
She was one of oh right, I had several play
by play partners. Oh yeah, course of the time, and
she was I.

Speaker 3 (01:30:00):
Think we may have a new we have a rising
potential Canadian wheelchair basketball star in these parts. Now on
the men's side, in Cairel Sapotik, who's making his way.
I don't know if you're familiar with him, a familiar
junior hockey player. He's from Aberdeen. He was paralyzed in
a in a he was hit in a game. He

(01:30:22):
was playing for the Cambridge Blazers and he was checked
into the boards and he was paralyzed. And he's now
in a wheelchair. But he's I was just doing some
writing for sas Sport on wheelchair basketball earlier this year
and discovered that he is. He has really taken a
shine to that. So we may have a future Paralympia
and wheelchair basketball coming from here too.

Speaker 4 (01:30:41):
Down the line. I'm trying to see if I can
get him on the show here. Though we are we
don't have to do it remotely. I don't know if
he well, you know, we do have a big door
we can win.

Speaker 3 (01:30:50):
We wheel him in here too, because I want to
make sure we're accessible for all those guests. But anyways,
that's for me to try to produce another show. But
wheelchair basketball, I like those picks.

Speaker 5 (01:31:00):
Have you ever played wheelchair basketball?

Speaker 4 (01:31:01):
That's so hard? It's so hard, man, it is so rough.

Speaker 5 (01:31:04):
If you're playing against people who actually play it. Yeah,
it's uh, it's intense.

Speaker 3 (01:31:07):
Wi.

Speaker 5 (01:31:08):
It's a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (01:31:08):
Wheelchair rugby used to be called murder ball. Could call
you could call wheelchair basketball like murder ball light Yeah, yeah,
negligent homicide ball ball doesn't quite roll off the song there.

Speaker 4 (01:31:23):
Uh, awesome picks.

Speaker 3 (01:31:25):
I'm going to uh start building the spreadsheet here and
uh compile. Uh, Simon, great to.

Speaker 4 (01:31:31):
Have you here.

Speaker 5 (01:31:32):
It's so much fun.

Speaker 4 (01:31:33):
We covered a lot of territory.

Speaker 3 (01:31:34):
We sure we went longer than I planned, which is
always seems to be the case, but that's when we're
having fun.

Speaker 4 (01:31:38):
When you're having fun, the time flies.

Speaker 3 (01:31:40):
Someone should phrase about time moving quickly when you're enjoying yourself.
Think there's a you should find a succinct way of
putting that. Yes, and then, which is not my forte
it's this hour and a half episode.

Speaker 4 (01:31:53):
Great stuff, Simon.

Speaker 3 (01:31:54):
Uh, we'll have fun at the game that has already
happened a game by the time you see this.

Speaker 5 (01:31:59):
We believe what's Swish is amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:32:01):
He's always up to something. And but you can also
catch us on Sunday. We'll be doing the Rattlers Brampton
Honey Badgers game on Sunday, the season finale for the Rattlers,
five pm tip off from Sastel Center. If you can't
get to the game, you can watch it on ceb
L Plus or TSM Plus with us. Anything else that
you're walk working on that you want to promote, any

(01:32:23):
other dufferent avenue shows you're appearing on that you want
to plug.

Speaker 5 (01:32:26):
And keep on cutting a swath through them. I want
to I have serious I want to do the book reviews.
I want to do the movies. I want to play
video games like I actually I like video games. I
want to get on there and do some some twitch
stream and get all the kids talking.

Speaker 3 (01:32:38):
Get on the Bamford Show too, talk real estate.

Speaker 2 (01:32:40):
You're gonna do it all.

Speaker 3 (01:32:42):
He is, Simon Hyatt and Barry's playoffs. Get on the
get on the wagon if you haven't already hopped on
that wagon, and uh don't forget. Game three if necessary
is on Friday Night at next Gen Patrick Karen's feel.
I hope it's not necessary. Hopefully they sweep it and
then they're moving on to round too. Check out the
website for Round two schedule as well. Alrighty, it's been

(01:33:03):
blast Simon, thanks for doing this man, we'll catch you soon.
Sounds good, good, wonderful chat with my good friend Simon.
And as usual when you have a friend in the
guest chair, you go a little bit long. But you
know that's just what happens when you are enjoying yourself. Again,
we got to come up with a good phrase to
summarize what happens to time when you're enjoying yourself. I
don't know, someone's got to coin that. We'll get in

(01:33:24):
the lab and get that one figured out. But of
course before we go, as we thank Simon one last time,
wouldn't be a show if we didn't cap it off
with the.

Speaker 4 (01:33:31):
Good sport of the week.

Speaker 3 (01:33:33):
As much as I would like to just give it
to Simon for stepping in here and helping a brother
out on a Tuesday recording day, we do want to
give it to an actual athlete. In this case, it
is Blake Tierney, coming off a terrific performance at the
World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. He fell just shy of
a podium result, but set, or rather broke the Canadian

(01:33:57):
record not once but twice in the men's two hundred
meter backstroke. First broke it in the heats the qualifying
heats of the time of one minute fifty five point
one to seven seconds. He then broke it in the semifinals,
shaving fourteen one hundreds off that time he came up.
He didn't quite break the record in the final, finishing

(01:34:18):
fourth in a time of one to fifty five point nine,
but still a tremendous performance and what an improvement.

Speaker 4 (01:34:25):
He finished nineteenth.

Speaker 3 (01:34:26):
He did not even qualify for the final in Paris
last year in that event, so did not only make
the final for the first time, and he's still young,
just twenty three years old, and then to get fourth
in the world class field like that, that just raises
the expectations going into LA twenty twenty eight. Of course,
lots of competition to come between now and then for

(01:34:47):
Blake Tierney from ready years ask two now out in
on the West Coast, Dese swims during the U Sports
season that UBC.

Speaker 4 (01:34:54):
But we are very proud.

Speaker 3 (01:34:56):
Of him, one of our own making a splash, that's
a swimming pun on the world stage in Singapore.

Speaker 4 (01:35:03):
So there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:35:04):
Blake Tierney is our good Sport of the week and
that wraps up another great episode of Good Sports at least,
I think it was pretty great.

Speaker 4 (01:35:13):
I hope you do too.

Speaker 3 (01:35:15):
Remember, you can follow us every week follow all the
shows here at Different Avenue Media Network by liking, sharing,
subscribing to the Different Avenue YouTube channel. You can also
visit our website different Amedia dot com, which tells you
about all the great offerings we have here coming out
of the Mothership. And again, you can follow this very
show on Instagram at good Sports three oh six. You

(01:35:36):
can follow me too if you're a degenerate you like
pictures from random backroads in Saskatchewan, That's on my personal
instagram at Ryan f Sports Guy. I'm in some sports
content too, but most of the show stuff is on
Good Sports three o six. And again, you want to
get in touch with the show directly, for whatever reason,
send me an email at good Sports three oh six
at gmail dot com. Next week the show, we're gonna

(01:36:00):
talk some stock car racing, so be sure to join
us then. Until then, I'm Ryan Flairty saying thanks so
much for watching, and be a good sport.

Speaker 1 (01:36:09):
Whatever makes you happy, what gets you out of bed,
whatever kicks the top website, you'll join in. Instead of
Victorious day Dream, don't glory of Fame.

Speaker 2 (01:36:30):
Don't spy me all on the same team. It's the
name of the game.

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Simon Hiatt, Sports Broadcaster | Good Sports EP12

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Simon Hiatt, Sports Broadcaster | Good Sports EP12