May 13, 2024 • 16 mins
Farhan Lalji, TSN broadcaster joins the show to talk about the Vancouver Canucks as they now have a 2-1 lead over the Edmonton Oilers. Farhan explains if the Canucks are ahead of schedule w/ how they played this season, will the NHL suspend Carson Soucy for his cross check on Connor McDavid, and much more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Barhan Loldy TSN Vancouver covering the seriesis in Edmonton. He joined us on
the Beacon Plumbing hotline. Sir,it's good to talk to you again after
spending a late evening at Earl's TestKitchen and downtown Vancouver after Game one.
You've got quite a series to cover, sir. What is what's transpired here
since I last saw you? Yeah, I know it's been interesting. You
(00:22):
know, Vancouver's found ways to adjust, Edmonton's got goaltending problems like they always
have, and here around the connectswith the two on lead, you know,
And I think the Game two forVancouver was a lot worse than Game
three, not just because they lost, but just in terms of form,
right. I mean, you couldtell that when the Oilers put their big
guns together McDavid and dry Siddle,Vancouver played scared and this time around the
(00:44):
didn't And even though they gave upa lot of shots in the third period,
wasn't necessarily a lot of big timescoring chances. And now you've got
this goaltender fresh out of the AmericanHockey League right R two She lobs and
played great, and Edmonton's got issueswith their goaltender who they give up to
after the second period, so Vancouverhas got to lead in. Lots of
people in the market I'm in rightnow are dealing with plenty of anks.
(01:07):
That's even before we get to whathappened after the game. I was just
going to ask you, do youthink, because it's Connor McDavid Rahan,
do you think that the NHL isgoing to step in and Susie's going to
get suspended? What do you thinkis going to happen because of that?
Yeah, I think Susi will getsuspended. I'm not suggesting he should,
but I'm just saying that, giventhe fact that it's McDavid, the optics
of the play, the fact thathe's already got a hearing, you know,
(01:30):
not in person, but the factthat he's got a hearing, I
would be surprised if he didn't getsuspended for at least the game. You
know, Zador gets a fine andDavid gets gets nothing, which you know,
for me, as I look atthat play, you know, the
game ends, Susi shoves McDavid,McDavid two hand slashes him and then it
(01:51):
looks to me like Sushi is tryingto cross check in the chest, but
behind him. Zadora comes in andcross checks it in the back, which
point he falls and now all ofa sudden he's lower in she strike zone
and that cross check hits him inthe mouth, right like I think if
Zador doesn't cross check him, andtoo, she cross checks him in the
chest, and we might be talkingabout a fine. And now because he
(02:12):
get him in the phase him,it's mc david, we're talking about a
suspension. And again I'm not suallyjust he should or shouldn't be suspended.
I'm not opining on it. Ijust feel that the way it's gonna go,
one guy's gonna get nothing and twoguys are gonna get something, right,
And I don't know that it shouldhave been that way. I think
that you know, if McDavid andyou get shoved, you need to live
with that as opposed to slash,because that then escalates the situation. Right.
(02:35):
So to me, if it's me, I probably Suspendisee for a game,
and I find the other two andnow you know one's got fined.
The go on desert, so you'recertainly gonna get connect Nation all in an
uproar, and you know, atthe end of the day, It's not
like five thousand dollars matters to economy, David. It's just more of a
a you know, the principle ofit if nothing else right, right and
lawsy tsn Vancoura joining us from Edmontonon ninety three point three KJR and the
(02:59):
Bacon plumbing Hut. It seemed tome for Hanada it was obvious from the
I mean the very first shift lastnight when Dakota Joshua was just leveling players
that the Canucks wanted to be morephysical from the get go. Was is
that true? And how do youthink that worked out for them? And
where it might go to the restof the series in that regard, Yeah,
you know, I think both teamswanted to up the physicality, right.
(03:22):
I mean, you've now got somereal dislike in this series, right,
And there'd been some moments earlier whereyou know, the McDavid high stick
and you know those hoglander getting youknow, with the stick in the junk,
and there's been you know, misscalls both way. Certain Vancouver's committed
some things as well that the ownerswould be upset about. So I think
both teams wanted to go there,But I think it was important for Vancouver
(03:43):
to show that they weren't going toplay scared early in that game, given
how the last game went right andthe fact is that they spent the entire
final forty minutes of that game playingin their own end, and even though
they weren't physically getting beaten, youknow, in terms of hits, they
were they played intimidated, they playedscared. So I think they want to
set the tone that they could thatthey were here to play and that they
(04:06):
were going to force them a Davidline to play now number a little bit
more. And they got physical andyou know, not certainly carried over.
But you know, none of usis a surprise, right. This is
where we get this kind of dislikein a series. Right, So I'm
sure it's abaly gonna get marsh becauseit's funny. You know, these teams
haven't played in the playoffs in thirtyyears, and you'd think that there'd be
(04:27):
a little more of a rivalry.But every time the Canucks are good,
the owners are bad, and theowners are bad the Caducks are good,
right, like, just been likethat, So they haven't ever really established
any kind of arrivalry even though theybeason. I'm polling him for so long,
so just you know, now it'sit's finally coming to Lang. I'm
sure we're going to some carry overbeyond this series and in the next game.
I'm curious for Han. Are theCanucks ahead of schedule meaning they are
(04:53):
blowing out of blowing out expectations ofwhat they should have been or are they
right? Were you expecting to bethis season going being two to one over
the Edmonton Oilers? Well, look, I think they're had a schedule in
terms of the big picture, right. I mean everyone had them as a
bubbles playoff team and they should havejust based on their previous form and what
they've done. They were viewed asa bubble team. So the fact that
(05:15):
they wind up winning the division andthen you know, getting to this point
where they are now, I thinkthat survives a lot of people and I
and you know, I think itshould, right. And you know,
if you talk to a Nuck fanthe way this he finished the season,
which wasn't as good as the waythey started the team, I think they
would have told you that. Youknow, second round is kind of the
baseline, right. We don't wanthim to go meekly into the night after
(05:36):
the first round. If they getto the second round and moves, they
would probably view that as a successfulseason. However, it's Edmonton, right,
and you know there's there's gonna besome rivalry there, even if it's
not been there on the ice,it certainly has been there in the fan
basis, And now expectations have gottenheightened. But old Edmonton, right,
and you know there's there's gonna besome rivalry there, even if it's not
(05:57):
been there on the ice, itcertainly has been there in the fan basis,
and that expectations have gotten heightened.But overall, I think the Canucks
being at this point is ahead ofschedule. I think this is a win.
I think when Rick Tockett has doneto change the culture of this organization
has been absolutely amazing. Right.The players have bought into the system.
Quinn Hughes talked a couple of daysago about on Procket and taken the stink
(06:21):
out of the lock of a meanstink of loser, right, And he's
convinced these players that you are goodenough to do these things, and you're
good enough to play this win,you're good enough to begin now what it
looks like going forward we'll see,right, Because the Canucks have a lot
of decisions to make at the endof all of this, because you've got
nine guys that are either depending onrestricted tree agents or restricted tree agents.
So you've got to make some decisions, right. I mean, Philip Ronick,
(06:43):
defenseman you started out really well playingalongside us, has fallen off well.
He thinks he's a seven or sevenand a half million dollar player.
For me, the Canduck should runkicking and screaming from that. Right.
If you're a Nikitasadorov who's been oneof the best players in the playoffs,
the price tag is only going up, right, he's an RFA. And
you know Elias Lindholm who they acquiredin the trade from Calgary as well,
(07:04):
another player that all of a suddenhas proven to be good in the playoffs.
What's his number? Right, Sothere's a lot of these guys that
they've got to make decisions on.And you know, from that, what
does the team look like next year? Because it could look significantly different.
You know, the core pieces likeJ. T. Miller and Peterson and
Hughes and Demko aren't going anywhere.But after that, they've got to take
(07:26):
a look at how they want tosupplement the roster and support those players.
Lazzi joining us from Edmonton. He'swith TSN Vancouver. He covers the NHL,
the playoffs, also the CFL andthe NFL. Been a friend of
mine for a long time, crossingpaths all over the country, and I
covered the National championship game in Houstonof the Huskies in Michigan together far on.
(07:47):
It's hard for me, Greg,that was hard for me in many
ways, right, And I'm notgonna lie like it's the one place where
I carry fandom is Husky football.The only it's not the Canucks, it's
not the Sox. The only placeI carry the level of fandom is college
football. And that's because the hostagehaven't been in that conversation for a while,
(08:09):
so I've been able to now allof a sudden, they're in it.
I naval games, trying to beobjective, and you have a son
who's entering college football recruiting land.He's what a tenth grader at Lyndon High
School and playing college football. Yeah, let me talk to you briefly about
that. I went through it.I had twenty year old twins and they're
(08:31):
college athletes. Now, the recruitingit was during COVID, so that had
that all mess to deal with,but with NIL and with transfer portals,
and with college recruiting affected by bothso much, and player and college coaches
relying on college transfers even more sothan high school recruits anymore. What's it
like to be a high school athletethat has college football aspirations? A parent
(08:54):
college football aspat you. You drivehim to the Tracy Ford Performance Center in
Bellevue, all the way from Lendona couple of times a week. What
is life like now for a highschool college wants to be college football player?
Yeah? I think it's truly difficult, and much more difficult than it
ever has been. I'm also theathletes getting paid. You know, I
(09:15):
wish there was a little bit moreof an above board way to do it
as opposed to you know, NIL, those which I guess theoretically are above
board now because they're legal. Butyou know, the way it all kind
of gets executed is an you know, it's wild west. Most coaches will
tell you the portal is awful forme, right, and it's not just
as it's subtle. I understand thatI coached high school football for thirty plus
(09:35):
years, right, and I wantto build high school players to the point
where they can get those opportunities.And those opportunities are are decreasing by the
day. And for quarterbacks, whichmy son plays, it's cutting half right.
So it's a really difficult thing becauseyou know, you talk to players
now and they'll say, you know, guys are getting paid to leave,
like even if you haven't done anything. Like the Huskies just signed an offensive
(09:58):
lineman from Ohio State who you knowhasn't been a full time starter at any
point in his career in college,but he's gonna get paid to leave,
you know. So it takes awaya lot of opportunities, It takes away
the development process. Coaches are insuch a win now mode now and so
so I don't like what it's doingto high school football. I don't like
what it's doing to high school prospects, not just my son. But you
(10:20):
know, I think for me,I speak more as a coach than anything
else. I want high school kidsgetting these opportunities. They work their tails
up for them. And as opposedto now, we get all these kids
that are just bouncing from place toplace to place and it's almost become fashionable
to throw your name in the portal, right, So I think the landscape
is really difficult, and I hopeat some point in the next couple of
seasons there's there's some guardrails, becauseI haven't heard a lot of stories Greg,
(10:43):
and you've been around this for along time of people that stayed at
a school and felt hard done by. Like, certainly, on the financial
side, players should be getting paid. I think we both agree and everyone
agrees to that, but in termsof the transferring to make that happen,
we don't hear a lot of thesestories. Guys gets out of their experience
by staying, and there's still enoughmovement in the old system. So I
(11:03):
just hope they can find a wayto put some guardrails on it where everyone
can get paid and schools can betreated similarly on that end, And in
terms of the portal, it's gotto get scaled back, even if it
just gets back to one single transferas opposed to unlimited every time you go,
like, how does a guy likeKatie Proctor at Alabama? You transfer
and you're there for two months andyou get to leave right like you haven't
(11:24):
even played it seasonn't even in thespring ball, and you get to believe
again like at some point, shouldn'tyou have to commit? Right? What
is it going to take farhan?Is it going to take Congress? The
US Congress step in? Is itgood? Who's going to regulate it?
If the NCAA won't and they mayjust split off into two superpower conferences and
everybody else deals with their own rules. How do you see when you say
(11:45):
it needs to have guardrails, whodo you see putting those in? Well?
I think the only people to putit in are the players, right
Like right now, when when youtalk about guardrails and Congresses want to get
involved, especially, you know,on one side of it, they don't
want anything to remotely limits free enterpriseand the guys can just go wherever whenever.
They're all for it, right,And I just don't think that's what
college football or college sport was meantto be. But at some point you've
(12:07):
got to be able to collectively bargainit right. And there are some groups
that are that are trying to formulatethat type of scenario where the players get
that kind of voice. The onlychallenge with that is going to be I
don't know how you can do thatand still make it work for all the
non revenue sports. Right, Andthis idea that just a bunch of executives
are getting rich i'll call it thebacks and college athletes isn't necessarily real because
(12:30):
when you look at them, what'sbeing given to the non revenue sports,
you know, from the revenue sportslike football matters and now that's going to
go away in a lot of cases. And you know, how is Title
nine going to be affected by allof that? Right? Who's going to
be the regulatory or the negotiating bodyon behalf of the players? But the
only way a system is going tobe put into place that can work within
(12:50):
the court system is I don't seecongresgating invoves, so it's got to be
collectively bargained. So hopefully there's asolution there that's not going to make it
worse for female athletics and non revenuesports and force University used to drop all
of that because the way it's goingout isn't sustainable. That is bonor fatigue
and it just can't continue. Absolutely. I got one more for you,
(13:11):
var Haan, And I'm sure youmight have saw the news about Austin Rivers
commenting on he could take thirty playersright now in the NBA and throw them
in the NFL, and you cannottake NFL players and put them in the
NBA. Where did you lie onthat whole Twitter beef? If you want
to call it that, Sorry Imissed it. Can you explain this to
me again and all the way in? Oh, not a problem. So
(13:31):
basically, Austin Rivers, former NBAplayer, he basically I think he was
on Greg not Greg McAfee, butMcAfee's show, and he alluded to the
point that he could take thirty playersright now in the National Basketball Association and
put them in the NFL and theycan play. Meanwhile, you can't have
thirty NFL players and put them inthe NBA. And as someone that has
(13:52):
a background in football, I wantto hear your thoughts on that. No
chance, you know, you mightget some On James types that are physically
equipped to do that, but no, these guys aren't stepping in and doing
that and dealing with that level ofphysicality that's required on a football field.
Forget about it. Might there besome dvs and receivers that can play basketball
(14:13):
and run the fast break and pullup and hit a jump shot. I
think that's a lot more likely thanthe other way around. I think it's
some of these basketball players. Yeah, they wouldn't like that. They don't
want that smoke. I don't agreewith that at all. That's why you're
a friend of mine, bro,and I knew you'd say that. I
got to ask you real quick aboutNathan Rourke. He's climbed off waivers by
the Giants. You've seen him alot of BC, the BC Lions,
(14:35):
and CFL. Do you see himsticking with the Giants? And if not,
the Seahawks are in the market needinga third quarterback. How might he
fit in Seattle? Or you thinkdo you think he's going to stay in
New York? Well, I thinkhe took great in Seattle. You know,
I'd love to see him there.But at the end of the day,
for Nathan, I don't want tosee him as a third string quarterback.
(14:56):
I want to see him in aplace where he can get the best
opportunity to potentially get on the field. I mean, I've covered both these
leagues for a long time. Idon't view myself as a dumb Canadian that
doesn't know what the NFL looks like. This kid is really really good and
he needs to get into the rightspot. And I think in terms of
what's happening in New York, numberone, like, they clearly have a
lack of belief in dang of Jones, right. I mean, they were
(15:18):
talking about the draft this year,They're only guaranteed they were talking about taking
quarterback in the draft this year.They've only got one more year guaranteed for
him at thirty five million. Theybring in Drew Lock for one million and
sorry, one year and five million, and then you know, Tommy DeVito
is the other guy who's kind ofa cult hero in New York. But
ultimately they wouldn't have brought in DrewLock if they believed in Devitos. I
(15:39):
think there's enough questions at the quarterbackposition that maybe he can work his way
into into some game action. Butthe hard part in New York is they're
gonna probably set themselves up the draftthe quarterback next year, and you never
know, the Seahawks could be inthe same situation right with where they're at,
Like, I don't know that Ginois a long term guy here,
and I don't and I don't knowthat Sam Howel is either. You know,
(16:00):
I've said with Gino you can winwith them, You're just never going
to win because of them. Andso they at some point are going to
have to make a big picture,long term decision at the quarterback spots.
If you made them, you don'twant to drop into that where you know,
you look at you know what washappening to him in New England.
You knew they were going to draftthe guy. You don't want to live
in that world, right, Soit's so tough when you're a guy like
(16:21):
him coming in as an undrafted preagent, whether you can play or not,
you're really trying to throw in aneedle to find the right opportunity.
And you know, like I don'tthink every quarterback in the CFL can go
play in the NFL, but Ithink this kid's different special. If he
gets if he gets in the rightspot, it might be tough to get
him out. Nathan Rourke be onthe lookout for him. We'll see what
ends up with him. Ron.I know you're busy man. Thank you
(16:44):
for taking time out in Edmonton.Enjoy the Great White North up there,
and the rest of the series willbe watching. Appreciate you joining me,
buddy. Good to see you.I'll see in Seattle soon. Take care,
Barhan Loldy TSN Vancouver covering the seriesis in Edmonton. He joined us on
the Beacon Plumbing hotline. Sir,it's good to talk to you again after
spending a late evening at Earl's TestKitchen and downtown Vancouver after Game one.
You've got quite a series to cover, sir. What is what's transpired here
since I last saw you? Yeah, I know it's been interesting. You
(00:22):
know, Vancouver's found ways to adjust, Edmonton's got goaltending problems like they always
have, and here around the connectswith the two on lead, you know,
And I think the Game two forVancouver was a lot worse than Game
three, not just because they lost, but just in terms of form,
right. I mean, you couldtell that when the Oilers put their big
guns together McDavid and dry Siddle,Vancouver played scared and this time around the
(00:44):
didn't And even though they gave upa lot of shots in the third period,
wasn't necessarily a lot of big timescoring chances. And now you've got
this goaltender fresh out of the AmericanHockey League right R two She lobs and
played great, and Edmonton's got issueswith their goaltender who they give up to
after the second period, so Vancouverhas got to lead in. Lots of
people in the market I'm in rightnow are dealing with plenty of anks.
(01:07):
That's even before we get to whathappened after the game. I was just
going to ask you, do youthink, because it's Connor McDavid Rahan,
do you think that the NHL isgoing to step in and Susie's going to
get suspended? What do you thinkis going to happen because of that?
Yeah, I think Susi will getsuspended. I'm not suggesting he should,
but I'm just saying that, giventhe fact that it's McDavid, the optics
of the play, the fact thathe's already got a hearing, you know,
(01:30):
not in person, but the factthat he's got a hearing, I
would be surprised if he didn't getsuspended for at least the game. You
know, Zador gets a fine andDavid gets gets nothing, which you know,
for me, as I look atthat play, you know, the
game ends, Susi shoves McDavid,McDavid two hand slashes him and then it
(01:51):
looks to me like Sushi is tryingto cross check in the chest, but
behind him. Zadora comes in andcross checks it in the back, which
point he falls and now all ofa sudden he's lower in she strike zone
and that cross check hits him inthe mouth, right like I think if
Zador doesn't cross check him, andtoo, she cross checks him in the
chest, and we might be talkingabout a fine. And now because he
(02:12):
get him in the phase him,it's mc david, we're talking about a
suspension. And again I'm not suallyjust he should or shouldn't be suspended.
I'm not opining on it. Ijust feel that the way it's gonna go,
one guy's gonna get nothing and twoguys are gonna get something, right,
And I don't know that it shouldhave been that way. I think
that you know, if McDavid andyou get shoved, you need to live
with that as opposed to slash,because that then escalates the situation. Right.
(02:35):
So to me, if it's me, I probably Suspendisee for a game,
and I find the other two andnow you know one's got fined.
The go on desert, so you'recertainly gonna get connect Nation all in an
uproar, and you know, atthe end of the day, It's not
like five thousand dollars matters to economy, David. It's just more of a
a you know, the principle ofit if nothing else right, right and
lawsy tsn Vancoura joining us from Edmontonon ninety three point three KJR and the
(02:59):
Bacon plumbing Hut. It seemed tome for Hanada it was obvious from the
I mean the very first shift lastnight when Dakota Joshua was just leveling players
that the Canucks wanted to be morephysical from the get go. Was is
that true? And how do youthink that worked out for them? And
where it might go to the restof the series in that regard, Yeah,
you know, I think both teamswanted to up the physicality, right.
(03:22):
I mean, you've now got somereal dislike in this series, right,
And there'd been some moments earlier whereyou know, the McDavid high stick
and you know those hoglander getting youknow, with the stick in the junk,
and there's been you know, misscalls both way. Certain Vancouver's committed
some things as well that the ownerswould be upset about. So I think
both teams wanted to go there,But I think it was important for Vancouver
(03:43):
to show that they weren't going toplay scared early in that game, given
how the last game went right andthe fact is that they spent the entire
final forty minutes of that game playingin their own end, and even though
they weren't physically getting beaten, youknow, in terms of hits, they
were they played intimidated, they playedscared. So I think they want to
set the tone that they could thatthey were here to play and that they
(04:06):
were going to force them a Davidline to play now number a little bit
more. And they got physical andyou know, not certainly carried over.
But you know, none of usis a surprise, right. This is
where we get this kind of dislikein a series. Right, So I'm
sure it's abaly gonna get marsh becauseit's funny. You know, these teams
haven't played in the playoffs in thirtyyears, and you'd think that there'd be
(04:27):
a little more of a rivalry.But every time the Canucks are good,
the owners are bad, and theowners are bad the Caducks are good,
right, like, just been likethat, So they haven't ever really established
any kind of arrivalry even though theybeason. I'm polling him for so long,
so just you know, now it'sit's finally coming to Lang. I'm
sure we're going to some carry overbeyond this series and in the next game.
I'm curious for Han. Are theCanucks ahead of schedule meaning they are
(04:53):
blowing out of blowing out expectations ofwhat they should have been or are they
right? Were you expecting to bethis season going being two to one over
the Edmonton Oilers? Well, look, I think they're had a schedule in
terms of the big picture, right. I mean everyone had them as a
bubbles playoff team and they should havejust based on their previous form and what
they've done. They were viewed asa bubble team. So the fact that
(05:15):
they wind up winning the division andthen you know, getting to this point
where they are now, I thinkthat survives a lot of people and I
and you know, I think itshould, right. And you know,
if you talk to a Nuck fanthe way this he finished the season,
which wasn't as good as the waythey started the team, I think they
would have told you that. Youknow, second round is kind of the
baseline, right. We don't wanthim to go meekly into the night after
(05:36):
the first round. If they getto the second round and moves, they
would probably view that as a successfulseason. However, it's Edmonton, right,
and you know there's there's gonna besome rivalry there, even if it's
not been there on the ice,it certainly has been there in the fan
basis, And now expectations have gottenheightened. But old Edmonton, right,
and you know there's there's gonna besome rivalry there, even if it's not
(05:57):
been there on the ice, itcertainly has been there in the fan basis,
and that expectations have gotten heightened.But overall, I think the Canucks
being at this point is ahead ofschedule. I think this is a win.
I think when Rick Tockett has doneto change the culture of this organization
has been absolutely amazing. Right.The players have bought into the system.
Quinn Hughes talked a couple of daysago about on Procket and taken the stink
(06:21):
out of the lock of a meanstink of loser, right, And he's
convinced these players that you are goodenough to do these things, and you're
good enough to play this win,you're good enough to begin now what it
looks like going forward we'll see,right, Because the Canucks have a lot
of decisions to make at the endof all of this, because you've got
nine guys that are either depending onrestricted tree agents or restricted tree agents.
So you've got to make some decisions, right. I mean, Philip Ronick,
(06:43):
defenseman you started out really well playingalongside us, has fallen off well.
He thinks he's a seven or sevenand a half million dollar player.
For me, the Canduck should runkicking and screaming from that. Right.
If you're a Nikitasadorov who's been oneof the best players in the playoffs,
the price tag is only going up, right, he's an RFA. And
you know Elias Lindholm who they acquiredin the trade from Calgary as well,
(07:04):
another player that all of a suddenhas proven to be good in the playoffs.
What's his number? Right, Sothere's a lot of these guys that
they've got to make decisions on.And you know, from that, what
does the team look like next year? Because it could look significantly different.
You know, the core pieces likeJ. T. Miller and Peterson and
Hughes and Demko aren't going anywhere.But after that, they've got to take
(07:26):
a look at how they want tosupplement the roster and support those players.
Lazzi joining us from Edmonton. He'swith TSN Vancouver. He covers the NHL,
the playoffs, also the CFL andthe NFL. Been a friend of
mine for a long time, crossingpaths all over the country, and I
covered the National championship game in Houstonof the Huskies in Michigan together far on.
(07:47):
It's hard for me, Greg,that was hard for me in many
ways, right, And I'm notgonna lie like it's the one place where
I carry fandom is Husky football.The only it's not the Canucks, it's
not the Sox. The only placeI carry the level of fandom is college
football. And that's because the hostagehaven't been in that conversation for a while,
(08:09):
so I've been able to now allof a sudden, they're in it.
I naval games, trying to beobjective, and you have a son
who's entering college football recruiting land.He's what a tenth grader at Lyndon High
School and playing college football. Yeah, let me talk to you briefly about
that. I went through it.I had twenty year old twins and they're
(08:31):
college athletes. Now, the recruitingit was during COVID, so that had
that all mess to deal with,but with NIL and with transfer portals,
and with college recruiting affected by bothso much, and player and college coaches
relying on college transfers even more sothan high school recruits anymore. What's it
like to be a high school athletethat has college football aspirations? A parent
(08:54):
college football aspat you. You drivehim to the Tracy Ford Performance Center in
Bellevue, all the way from Lendona couple of times a week. What
is life like now for a highschool college wants to be college football player?
Yeah? I think it's truly difficult, and much more difficult than it
ever has been. I'm also theathletes getting paid. You know, I
(09:15):
wish there was a little bit moreof an above board way to do it
as opposed to you know, NIL, those which I guess theoretically are above
board now because they're legal. Butyou know, the way it all kind
of gets executed is an you know, it's wild west. Most coaches will
tell you the portal is awful forme, right, and it's not just
as it's subtle. I understand thatI coached high school football for thirty plus
(09:35):
years, right, and I wantto build high school players to the point
where they can get those opportunities.And those opportunities are are decreasing by the
day. And for quarterbacks, whichmy son plays, it's cutting half right.
So it's a really difficult thing becauseyou know, you talk to players
now and they'll say, you know, guys are getting paid to leave,
like even if you haven't done anything. Like the Huskies just signed an offensive
(09:58):
lineman from Ohio State who you knowhasn't been a full time starter at any
point in his career in college,but he's gonna get paid to leave,
you know. So it takes awaya lot of opportunities, It takes away
the development process. Coaches are insuch a win now mode now and so
so I don't like what it's doingto high school football. I don't like
what it's doing to high school prospects, not just my son. But you
(10:20):
know, I think for me,I speak more as a coach than anything
else. I want high school kidsgetting these opportunities. They work their tails
up for them. And as opposedto now, we get all these kids
that are just bouncing from place toplace to place and it's almost become fashionable
to throw your name in the portal, right, So I think the landscape
is really difficult, and I hopeat some point in the next couple of
seasons there's there's some guardrails, becauseI haven't heard a lot of stories Greg,
(10:43):
and you've been around this for along time of people that stayed at
a school and felt hard done by. Like, certainly, on the financial
side, players should be getting paid. I think we both agree and everyone
agrees to that, but in termsof the transferring to make that happen,
we don't hear a lot of thesestories. Guys gets out of their experience
by staying, and there's still enoughmovement in the old system. So I
(11:03):
just hope they can find a wayto put some guardrails on it where everyone
can get paid and schools can betreated similarly on that end, And in
terms of the portal, it's gotto get scaled back, even if it
just gets back to one single transferas opposed to unlimited every time you go,
like, how does a guy likeKatie Proctor at Alabama? You transfer
and you're there for two months andyou get to leave right like you haven't
(11:24):
even played it seasonn't even in thespring ball, and you get to believe
again like at some point, shouldn'tyou have to commit? Right? What
is it going to take farhan?Is it going to take Congress? The
US Congress step in? Is itgood? Who's going to regulate it?
If the NCAA won't and they mayjust split off into two superpower conferences and
everybody else deals with their own rules. How do you see when you say
(11:45):
it needs to have guardrails, whodo you see putting those in? Well?
I think the only people to putit in are the players, right
Like right now, when when youtalk about guardrails and Congresses want to get
involved, especially, you know,on one side of it, they don't
want anything to remotely limits free enterpriseand the guys can just go wherever whenever.
They're all for it, right,And I just don't think that's what
college football or college sport was meantto be. But at some point you've
(12:07):
got to be able to collectively bargainit right. And there are some groups
that are that are trying to formulatethat type of scenario where the players get
that kind of voice. The onlychallenge with that is going to be I
don't know how you can do thatand still make it work for all the
non revenue sports. Right, Andthis idea that just a bunch of executives
are getting rich i'll call it thebacks and college athletes isn't necessarily real because
(12:30):
when you look at them, what'sbeing given to the non revenue sports,
you know, from the revenue sportslike football matters and now that's going to
go away in a lot of cases. And you know, how is Title
nine going to be affected by allof that? Right? Who's going to
be the regulatory or the negotiating bodyon behalf of the players? But the
only way a system is going tobe put into place that can work within
(12:50):
the court system is I don't seecongresgating invoves, so it's got to be
collectively bargained. So hopefully there's asolution there that's not going to make it
worse for female athletics and non revenuesports and force University used to drop all
of that because the way it's goingout isn't sustainable. That is bonor fatigue
and it just can't continue. Absolutely. I got one more for you,
(13:11):
var Haan, And I'm sure youmight have saw the news about Austin Rivers
commenting on he could take thirty playersright now in the NBA and throw them
in the NFL, and you cannottake NFL players and put them in the
NBA. Where did you lie onthat whole Twitter beef? If you want
to call it that, Sorry Imissed it. Can you explain this to
me again and all the way in? Oh, not a problem. So
(13:31):
basically, Austin Rivers, former NBAplayer, he basically I think he was
on Greg not Greg McAfee, butMcAfee's show, and he alluded to the
point that he could take thirty playersright now in the National Basketball Association and
put them in the NFL and theycan play. Meanwhile, you can't have
thirty NFL players and put them inthe NBA. And as someone that has
(13:52):
a background in football, I wantto hear your thoughts on that. No
chance, you know, you mightget some On James types that are physically
equipped to do that, but no, these guys aren't stepping in and doing
that and dealing with that level ofphysicality that's required on a football field.
Forget about it. Might there besome dvs and receivers that can play basketball
(14:13):
and run the fast break and pullup and hit a jump shot. I
think that's a lot more likely thanthe other way around. I think it's
some of these basketball players. Yeah, they wouldn't like that. They don't
want that smoke. I don't agreewith that at all. That's why you're
a friend of mine, bro,and I knew you'd say that. I
got to ask you real quick aboutNathan Rourke. He's climbed off waivers by
the Giants. You've seen him alot of BC, the BC Lions,
(14:35):
and CFL. Do you see himsticking with the Giants? And if not,
the Seahawks are in the market needinga third quarterback. How might he
fit in Seattle? Or you thinkdo you think he's going to stay in
New York? Well, I thinkhe took great in Seattle. You know,
I'd love to see him there.But at the end of the day,
for Nathan, I don't want tosee him as a third string quarterback.
(14:56):
I want to see him in aplace where he can get the best
opportunity to potentially get on the field. I mean, I've covered both these
leagues for a long time. Idon't view myself as a dumb Canadian that
doesn't know what the NFL looks like. This kid is really really good and
he needs to get into the rightspot. And I think in terms of
what's happening in New York, numberone, like, they clearly have a
lack of belief in dang of Jones, right. I mean, they were
(15:18):
talking about the draft this year,They're only guaranteed they were talking about taking
quarterback in the draft this year.They've only got one more year guaranteed for
him at thirty five million. Theybring in Drew Lock for one million and
sorry, one year and five million, and then you know, Tommy DeVito
is the other guy who's kind ofa cult hero in New York. But
ultimately they wouldn't have brought in DrewLock if they believed in Devitos. I
(15:39):
think there's enough questions at the quarterbackposition that maybe he can work his way
into into some game action. Butthe hard part in New York is they're
gonna probably set themselves up the draftthe quarterback next year, and you never
know, the Seahawks could be inthe same situation right with where they're at,
Like, I don't know that Ginois a long term guy here,
and I don't and I don't knowthat Sam Howel is either. You know,
(16:00):
I've said with Gino you can winwith them, You're just never going
to win because of them. Andso they at some point are going to
have to make a big picture,long term decision at the quarterback spots.
If you made them, you don'twant to drop into that where you know,
you look at you know what washappening to him in New England.
You knew they were going to draftthe guy. You don't want to live
in that world, right, Soit's so tough when you're a guy like
(16:21):
him coming in as an undrafted preagent, whether you can play or not,
you're really trying to throw in aneedle to find the right opportunity.
And you know, like I don'tthink every quarterback in the CFL can go
play in the NFL, but Ithink this kid's different special. If he
gets if he gets in the rightspot, it might be tough to get
him out. Nathan Rourke be onthe lookout for him. We'll see what
ends up with him. Ron.I know you're busy man. Thank you
(16:44):
for taking time out in Edmonton.Enjoy the Great White North up there,
and the rest of the series willbe watching. Appreciate you joining me,
buddy. Good to see you.I'll see in Seattle soon. Take care,
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