[MUSIC PLAYING] We've got a scandal. Very 2024 scandal. To my knowledge, does not involve TikTok, although it's always out of my depths. I don't know, maybe it does. And I'm just unaware. It does involve drones. That's what makes it very, very 2024 of it all. What am I talking about? Well, Canada soccer. All we ever want. The moment of Canada soccer continues, we're there at the forefront of our national sporting conversations. Maybe not like this. The Canadian women's soccer team. OK, now a non-staffed member, but someone who is affiliated with the team is by understanding. They got dinged for flying a drone. Now, this is a big issue in and of itself around France regarding the Olympics. Obviously, any time big events like this, security, obviously, goes shooting through the roof right now. So French authorities, they're just like they're on the lookout. Trevor Bauer, he would have no fun over there for the Olympics. He'd be like, get out of here, drone boy. We don't want any part of this. You go cut your finger somewhere else. So they were allegedly spying on the New Zealand practice. And now we have some real fallout from this. So, Bev Breezeman, the coach, she will not coach. Canada's opening soccer match in the Olympic Games. Two staff members, including an assistant coach, are out and are being sent home from Paris. A full apology has been made. There could be more fallout. There may not be. I'll leave out a Rashman day. That's all from Rashman day. He then adds what a mess, which I do agree with. So I will add it in there as well. We love a sexy Olympic story. I would have loved this to have been someone else, though. This is off-brand for us. A little piece of me says, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. But a bigger piece of me says, don't get caught. Yeah, off the top of the show, we kind of joked about it. And, again, I was embracing it. Like, it's great. It's fun. It's cool that they're involved in this sort of scandal. We're not a scandalous nation when it comes to smarts, for the most part. We've got our galleates. You know, of course, I mean-- Chest open. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. No, no, totally. Iconic, well-known, infamous. But at the same time, generally speaking, we have a pretty good track record. Like, we try to keep it as sterile as possible when it comes to these things. So something else in reading this latest statement that was issued by the COC, which runs down some of those sanctions that have taken place, there is-- And this is the line that really stood out to me. It's a very top line of the press release. Following its review of the July 22nd drone incident in St. Etienne, and upon learning of a second drone incident at July 19th New Zealand practice. So this is multiple. It's not one. That's good. It's true. They did it twice. Maybe more to-- we'll see if there's to anybody's knowledge. But based on the information that they have unearthed, it's occurred at least twice. And my biggest takeaway from this and the punishments that have been levied up until this point, I kind of think Beth Priestman got off easy. I really do, Gunner. So again, from the release, the COC, Canadian Olympic Committee, has accepted the decision of head coach Beth Priestman to remove herself from coaching the match against New Zealand. That'll be tomorrow. So this is not a punishment that was levied by someone. This is the old-- I don't know if you did this when you were a kid, but you try to get in front of it with your parents. You know you screwed up shit. How about no TV for-- And you always strike a low bar. You're trying to barter essentially. Three days. Three days. Get out of here. What kind of opening salvo is it? You try to jump the gun on your own punishment. We've seen this before. It's a calm-- again, there are two schools of thought. It's like you beg for forgiveness, or ask for permission. This is just Beth Priestman just begging for forgiveness. She's like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know what happens still. I'm sorry. And I think the other part of this as well is that as a head coach, you always wear this. This doesn't-- again, we always have the NFL, Bella Checky, and he wasn't the guy with the camera, but he still wears it there. So the unaccredited analyst was the one that seems to be at the heart of this Joseph Lombardi. One of your pizons, you got to get them in line. I mean, I'm not surprised. Can't say-- OK, I certainly am not allowed to say that. No, it's fine. Just clarifying that came from the Italian. It's permissible by me. OK, again, I'm not even going to-- Oh, no, you don't have to touch it. Yeah, it's fine. OK, I want to-- I like want to cosign it, but I won't. Yeah. OK, I'm scared. Gunnar, you know, I'm from-- I know. You and John Marosi have sat on this very show being like, what about our pizons? So it's fine. I know. All right, OK. He has been removed from the Canadian Olympic team, sent home immediately. He's the guy there, and then he has been mannered and assistant coach to whom Mr. Lombardi, quite the nice handle on him in a press release about him cheating, reports to, is being removed from the Canadian Olympic team and will be sent home. So effectively, the unaccredited analyst, you know, a tactical guy, video coach, probably, to put it in more kind of North American sports parlay. He reports to an assistant. Yeah. Obviously, they're like, hey, it's under your purview. That can't stand, so they're both gone, and the coach has removed herself. Do we think that's it? Do we think there's more fallout? Is New Zealand going to be spitting mad? Does this put a black mark on our country, Dan Yellie? Well, I think, you know, there are many layers to this. I wonder in the greater global soccer sense, is Canada's soccer going to be sanctioned specifically? Because these are measures that are being taken for the immediate aftermath of this. Like, this is the reaction within this relatively sort of finite time period that we've seen and experienced up until this point. But there will, for sure, be some kind of broader nut punishment, but sanction that is sort of at least tabled in relation to Canada's soccer. And you'd have to imagine, as New Zealand did rightly, in launching a complaint to the IOC, that they're going to go and they're going to launch a complaint to whether it's concacath, or FIFA, or you wait. These bodies are now going to be made aware and looped into this situation, which is then going to potentially lead us down the road of other discussions and conversations surrounding if more punitive measures need to take place. The one reason I even say-- and the interesting part of all this, we don't know all the particulars of how this all-- like, what is the root of it? How did we get to, from point A to point Z, which is point Z is this guy being out of practice with a drone, right? So there's some sort of process that went down. And who was involved? How it all transpired? We have no idea. But the reason I think that the policeman got off kind of easy here is because, to me, it's more of a punishment, in a sense, to have her stand on that touchline, to have to walk out, to have to shake hands with the New Zealand coach before and after the match, knowing that what they did was wrong. It did damage the integrity of the game, but she's going to be sitting up in a box or at the hotel, watching this game out of the limelight, not having to be exposed to cameras and media and people who are in the crowd. It would have been worse and, frankly, more of a punishment for her to have to stand on that pitch tomorrow. I don't know, Trayvon Greene sitting up in that-- what was it, San Francisco Giants box? Well, watching Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it was a pretty good punishment for him. We all get to laugh at him, maybe she'll feel it the same way. I don't expect Charles Davis, quite frankly, to have any clue what we're talking about now, but I am just happy to have him back in our lives. It's a bargain I have to make that I give up on the end of summer. It means we're losing it. But if Charles Davis is going to come back into our lives, it's a pretty good deal with me. Charles, I hope your winch was good. Great to talk to you, man. Great to hear your guys' voices. Hope everything is well. Brett and Danielli, at all I can tell you is, Gordy Howe would have wanted her to stand on that pitch. That's right. Gordy Howe would have said, the justice is, you got to face me again. Yes. That's all I mean, that's the only way I can relate to it. Yes. Yeah, you're right. Raymond Greene was punished, watching his team lose, and then ultimately losing the theory, because that's been the game that finished things off. But yeah, he was punished that way, obviously. But Gordy Howe was always back with the original six. Oh, you want to do something a little nutty? Yeah. OK. Right here. You know, we play like 15 times a year, OK? Yeah, I will find you and finish you off. Some scores were certainly settled there. Again, we'll just dive right into it with the NFL season. It's funny, it always-- it seems like with the NFL, there's rarely one prevailing storyline, but there's always like 27 that could be the lead on any given day. I want to start with you at the new crop of rookie quarterbacks. It's always an exciting thing. Caleb Williams, I'm done doing the more hype since he does feel different in terms of the way he's coming into the league. There are question marks that are unfair. There's the personality stuff that I think is probably a little unfair, but I also understand people kind of brushing back. It's just a very 2024 athlete, as opposed to somebody kind of cut out of a cloth, a 1987. What are you expected with Caleb Williams and the Bears? I mean, they went out, got him a ton of weapons. He seems like he's in at the very worst position, just a better spot than Fields was to start his career. Agreed on all of that, and especially the part about-- he's a 2024 type of a quarterback, and there may be some pushback from people about the way he tried to do the contract, right? Tried to form an LLC. He tried to be very creative in what he was doing. And let's face it, most of us just like-- You got drafted, number one, if I had that chance-- [INTERPOSING VOICES] You know, and we know that that's really not true. But still, there's a big section of public that wants to get into that. Bottom line is, exactly as you said, for him with the Bears coming in, well more set up than Justin Fields was, and a defensive head coach who's looking to protect his quarterback. Look, the general manager was smart enough to draft a punter. Why? Hey, let's not be in positions where we have to get crazy on offense, punt it away, use our good defense, keep this kid protected, and as he settles in, we'll expand more and more. But speaking of more, DJ Moore, that's a big help. Roman Dune Day coming in, that's a big help. Keenan Allen coming in, that's a big help. DeAndre Swift running the ball, cold commit tight end. Yeah, I think your point is well-made. Yeah, since Charles, since Gunner decided to start with a rookie quarterback, I'm going to focus on a second year quarterback. That being one Mr. CJ Stroud who is coming off a splendid, just splendid rookie season in 2023. If I had to ask you to start rhyming off and rank the top quarterbacks in the NFL as of today, Charles, how long are you going before we hear CJ Stroud's name come out of your mouth and being mentioned in the same breath as some of the top signal callers in the sport? You're not getting out of the top 10 for sure. And if you're really being honest and putting cards on the table about where he is and not taking to account that he's going into a second year and you know how it is, we remember the old Heisman Trophy that you had to wait till your turn to win it. That's been fun. Now we give it to sophomores. Now we give it to freshmen. Yeah. Take that and let's use that example now. Why wouldn't you talk about CJ Stroud being in your top five? You'd have that conversation. Would you win it? Depends on who you're talking to. Is it a legit conversation? It certainly is. What he did last year, let's be honest, we can use whatever 50 analogy we want. Checkers and he's playing chess. Masters degree, he's got a PhD. You know, all those things and to add to the surprise was even though he was the number two pick in the draft coming in, he had so many question marks. Big time through the draft process that it actually elevated what he did last year. Sometimes you have to remind people, don't forget he's the number two overall pick in the draft. What? Because it felt like he had got picked over so much. He went farther down in the draft and he didn't. He was number two overall. And then of course, his season versus Bryce Jones, who went number one, not even close. And the really weird part, they played one time head to head and Bryce Jones team one and Bryce Young out played C.J. Stroud. So you can't ever count for everything that happens in an NFL season. Charles, why do you think that was the case as it pertains to Stroud, the fact that, you know, he felt like from the moment he stepped foot on the field last year, we even preseason, you saw a sort of glimpses of it. But mind you, at that point, you're saying, okay, it's preseason. Like let's let's temper our expectations here slightly. Let's still be, you know, cautiously optimistic about what this might look like. But then by the time I got to say, you know, week three, week four rolled around, you're thinking, man, this is legit, the way that he's processing the game, how calm and composed he is in the pocket. Like how, how is it that? And I know he was the number two pick, but how is it that there were so many questions and sort of not red flags, but let's say yellow flags, cautionary flags that were raised as it pertains to him as he was coming into the national football league? - I'm glad you asked. I think we kind of worked through it together in a sense, right? Ohio State was a dominant program. Did not play very many tight games while in college, right? So he didn't fix it out that as part of his process. Then we got into the Ohio State quarterback thing that always came up. Name Ohio State quarterback has been really successful in the NFL since, right? - Toss. - And that always came up and it's always like, "Hey, Ohio State quarterback, that's not gonna work." So he had to deal with that. Then you throw in the fact that what was that test, the S test or whatever it was that the S two test, his score leaked out and boy, it sounded abysmal. I don't know about this guy. I don't know if he can think and process and what have you. And now we realize that unfortunate for the S test people, you're like, "Oh, no." (laughing) Or are people going to look at it and you have to understand what it's actually measuring, but we take it like it's an IQ test and it's not. But all that being said, then you throw in, we never saw him do X, Y and Z in college, except for that game against Georgia. So if he did it then, why didn't we see it before? Does that mean we'll see it again? You see where I'm going with all this? So it's question mark, question mark. Sometimes when you play in dominant programs, you get damned because people don't get to see you do a lot. J.J. McCarthy went through it this year. I've never seen him make those kind of throws. He throws it 18 times a game, 15 times a game. I don't see this, I don't see that. Well, it's all there on tape if you dive in. And the same thing was true with C.J. Stroud. We just had not had reason to buy it week in and week out. And the weird part was, Bryce Young played on a dominant program as well. But for whatever reason, we didn't have the same question marks, even though he was smaller and all those red flags could have been there because of his size. Yeah, it is funny the way it works out with the dominant program. It can be used either as like, look at this. It's a bunch of alphas in the room. And they all still look to him. That's kind of the J.J. McCarthy of it all. But when you have a track record of the program, you can certainly see how you end up that way. Somebody who has a very long track record of success in the NFL, just not for the team he currently plays for. Aaron Rodgers in the Jets, what are you expecting this year? I could have some great way to set it up or what I think. But this feels like the most magic eight ball team of all time. They're going to shake it. They're going to roll it out there in week one. And I genuinely have no idea what to expect, Charles. And don't you think that if we get through 18 weeks that you're going to shake that magic eight ball each week and a different answer is going to pop up? Yeah, 100%. I absolutely, absolutely love your analogy. And I'm going to continue on with it because I'm with you. I have no idea what's going to turn up weekend and week out. Aaron Rodgers off field has doubled, tripled, quadrupled, down on whatever Aaron believes is, you know, who he is, personas, the whole thing. He's not backing off of anything. Doesn't matter if, you know, he says, hey, if everything we want in this locker room is without distraction and people need to show up. Oh, as many I'm going to see you. I'm not going to be here. I'm going to Egypt. You know, I mean, you know, it's one of those things. And if you didn't have the track record of what we've had over the last five years, that really was a non-issue him going to Egypt. OK, but the last five years of Aaron Rodgers, what's happened in New York, him hurt last year. Now it's a story. And the Jets, of course, did nothing to help it by calling the absence on excuse. They didn't even cover it. So that just tells you a little bit. I feel like it was an oversight by the Jets, you know, just cover and be done with it and then deal with them privately. But I'm with you on this, and we don't know what we're going to get. Because as great as he is, and we're seeing quarterbacks play and play and play, coming off of an Achilles is no joke. No, it isn't. We got to see what we don't want. And this team's got a chance to be good, OK? But last year, everyone was all in. Boy, this is the Jets chance. You can make an argument, they might actually have a chance to be better this year than they were last year. And everyone is actually in reserve on this one. Everyone's sitting back going, eh, let's wait and see. Because the same excitement's not there, considering the buildup in the thud of last year. Through no fault of Aaron Rodgers, he got hurt. But that's just kind of how the season went. If you like him, and I'll stop here. But if you really like the Jets, the one thing you have to point to is with really subpar quarterbacking, somehow they won seven games last year. That's very true. I don't know how they did. Very true. How about they did it? And if Rodgers can take care of the offense and not put all the pressure on the defense, which is really one of the better defenses in the league, now the AFCs gets interesting. Well, the one thing I think Charles, they really did unlock, obviously, with the level of quarterback play, they were they were, you know, privy to. It was the run game. Like Breece Hall, who had questions going into last year because he was coming off a torn ACL, he ends up emerging as one of the best peer running backs in football. So they have that at their disposal, and it'll be interesting to see sort of how they balance out the offense to ease Rodgers back in and see what he really is capable of. Because I do think there are some, to a certain degree, there are some questions about what he's going to look like a because of the injury. But also when we last saw him in 2022 playing for the Packers, there were signs that, you know, he wasn't necessarily having the same level of success as we had seen prior to that winning back-to-back MVP. So there, I think it'll be fascinating. That's going to be obviously one of the more marquee stories to follow throughout this season. Let's stick in that division. Let's stick with the AFC East and Charles and the Buffalo Bills. My Bills, there are a lot of questions surrounding this football team because they're a vastly different looking football team than they were in 2023. They got a lot younger. The roster has been retooled in a significant way. But Josh Allen is still there. And I guess that is the one big source of hope and optimism with this team is the fact that Josh Allen is still playing quarterback. What's your interpretation, your read, your expectation for the Buffalo Bills going into 2024? Let's go off-Broadway for a moment and indulge in a little bit of a fantasy, OK? OK. Sean McDermott's at home is 2 o'clock in the morning in the offseason. And he startles up in bed next to his lovely wife, having a panic attack about what his roster looks like this year compared to what it looked like before. And as he's breathing into a brown paper bag, hyperventilating, his wife lovingly rubbing his back. You know what she whispers in his ear? Honey, honey, you have number 17. Yeah. And Sean McDermott breathing gets back to normal. Blood pressure down. Thank you, honey. We're going to be OK. And I know I'm being really way out there facetious on this. But I've used this analogy, and I'm really convinced of it. Josh Allen is hitting that age of life. Years of service and play, right, in the NFL. Now being able to just go from the young horse who good, that wild horse that you just can't contain to, what's it going to look like when it's all said and done for me? And if I'm one of the greats, which he is fashioning that case very, very well, the greats tend to carry hardware with him and rings, he wants that. And all he has to do is look at his number one rival within the AFC, and that's Mahomes. In the last two seasons, we spent time talking about Kansas City not providing Mahomes with all the weapons he should have, but Mahomes taking what he had and making it into something else. And Kansas City coming along for the ride as an organization. Andy Reed said, OK, I will run the ball because I've got this crazy thing named Isaiah Pacheco, who I'm going to send to actual bowling ball with knives and take pressure off. And I don't do that. I normally call a pass in my hand to him. And my goodness, my defense has now become the best part of my team. They weren't just a team playing with Mahomes. Now that defense became team's a factor. We got you this time. Buffalo built on defense anyway. Obviously, some work to do on the backgam, but Sean McDermott knows defense quite well. I made his bones. It's a good unit. Can they be better? We'll find out because we've got some youngsters on the back end as I mentioned. But here's the flip side. Josh Allen now gets to assume that kind of identity. Oh, you don't give me a lot of receivers. Give me the rookie that I liked in the pre-draft process. Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakira, you've been here. It's time to step up, big guy. All right, I got two tight ends that are very dependable that I can throw the football to. One could be spectacular, who was their number one pick last year. And I had an offense coordinator, Joe Brady, who understands two things. One, take pressure off the number 17. So let's run the football with James Cook. He drafted the kid out of Kentucky, Ray Davis, who can give you some work. And last but not least, my head coach is a defensive coach. He likes when I run the football and my defense gets dressed a little bit. So now you change identity a little bit, right? You play to what the roster is, which is what Kansas City's done the last two seasons. And they've gone back-to-back Super Bowl champs because you got a quarterback who took his ego out of the game and is now playing the best quarterback in the league. I don't care what the numbers say. He's in an apex level playing quarterback. That's where Josh wants to be. And I think he's at the age and the time that he's going to assume that type of identity himself. He wants to get past him. He wants to win games. Guess what? He's going to be the focal point of doing it. And he is more than capable. Yeah, going to be another fun year in the AFC East of watching him and Mahomes and Jackson and Burroughs back. And oh, God, I can't wait. Again, I love summer. But when falls here, we'll have some football. And that'll be fun. Charles, love this chat. You got me fired up for the season. Thanks, man. Hey, thanks for having me on, guys. You take care of yourselves, OK? Thanks, Charles. There he goes. Charles Davis, analyst for the NFL on CBS, as well as the NFL Network, one of our faves there. The best. So pulling back the curtain, we did have the conversation off air because Charles is a pros pro. He's ready. He knows he's talking to people in Toronto. We were wondering. It's going to have like, hmm, your J's. It's going to ask us about the Leafs. He usually loves like an Austin Matthews crack in there. No, he goes old school, giving us a Gordy Howe. Brilliant. Reference. Brilliant. That worked given the fact that he just stumbled in on us talking about a conversation about cheating with drones in soccer. So Charles Davis can truly, truly do it all. It is funny with the NFL. Like, I don't know if you feel the same way I do about it, but generally speaking, you know, sometimes, like I would say, when Rogers made the move from the Packers to the Jets, that was the one seismic talk of the off season. But generally speaking, there is no one lead again. Or Tom Brady or Tom Brady. But or but even even when Lamar Jackson was without. Oh, yeah, you went in the league, could have just had him. It's like, that was a story, but there were 15 other things going on. That is the beauty of this league is you could just about look anywhere, pick any team. And there is a like one a topic for you to get into. It's funny you mentioned this because yesterday in preparing for the show, preparing to talk to Charles, writing down various topics that we could hit on, you know, one thing that struck me was once the last time we talked about Joe Burrow and the Bengals, right, it's so funny. It speaks to this. The myriad of stories that are happening at any given point. You know what conversation about Joe Burrow, I've seen a lot? It's not about him. It's about him having the best idea for the NFL schedule of like giving every team a bi week, a week 13. And then that gets you to President's Day. And then you have the Monday holiday after the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah, I remember Joe Burrow. He's pretty cool. Oh, that's right. Oh, no, wait. Oh, that's right. He was in the Super Bowl a few years. Yeah, you know what, maybe, maybe he's maybe just maybe when we see him back on the field again, he'll be pretty good at football, but it's funny how, because there's so much going on, we kind of overlooked that. Yet, what did we talk about as one of the prevailing story lines heading into last year? Yeah, to start the season was the Bengals seem them for real and legit, and they are a Super Bowl contender, a Super Bowl favorite, in fact. And yet, we quickly, that story dissipated. Here we are in 2024 in the offseason. It feels like they're kind of just jogging in, nice moseying their way into the 2024 regular season with not no expectations but no outside noise this time around. So it's funny how the NFL operates in this kind of vortex where, to your point, it's not really ever, it's very seldom for one story to dominate all of the conversation. It's a myriad of different things that are sort of captivating us. Yeah, also, I'm going to just make a request of somebody in the NFC to be good this season. I know the Niners were there. The Eagles were fake good. Detroit will be good. OK, good. I won. I want, look at the AFC. Again, I come back to you with this, the man's league, all the quarterbacks in the AFC. And not to like, I don't want to denigrate to Jordan Love or somebody of that ilk or, oh, you know, Kirk Cousins over in Atlanta already losing his job. And hey, like Jared Goff has gone from underrated to overrated to back to properly rated, I think, right now. But guess what, he's properly rated for a reason because he's not one of those guys we think of. It is just remarkable, the quarterback monopoly that the AFC has. I mean, even like the new guy, we're all ready to annoy him. CJ Stroud, AFC, it's just remarkable. Jordan Love, probably, and again, like this is like NFL brain has not totally clicked on for me yet. So I'm sure there's somebody obvious, like, am I not giving Brock Purdy his due? I don't think so. I think I'm giving him the proper amount of due of properly rated, but it's just remarkable. We see this all the time in sports where a conference just gets stacked for one reason or another. You know, in the NBA, it's been guys kind of running away from one particular superstar. And then all of a sudden, hmm, we've kind of created a deathmatch for ourselves out here. In the NFL, it has been the arms race of quarterbacks. And they've just all landed in the AFC. - It's a point, man. - Everyone. - Yeah, Burrow, Herbert, Jackson, Alan. - Yeah. - My homes, Stroud. You go through the, yeah, you're 100% right. It's a great point, 'cause even though I'm thinking, like, who are the younger guys in the NFC that I could see? - Love. - It's love. And the other guy, but we haven't seen him take a snap yet. It's Caleb Williams. - I am. - That's essentially it. It's like, JJ McCarthy, I don't make, I don't know. - Maybe. - I don't know, right? We need to see it. - Yeah. - But that's really it. Like, we're not grasping at straws to anoint a lot of other guys. - Yeah. - And in the AFC, you know, it's, I am fully considering, but it's truly been monopolized in terms of the overall, the elite quarterback place stemming from that conference. - And the NFC have more than two and a half good quarterbacks challenge for 2024. - Oh, that's a yes. - I dare you. Come on, that's a yes. - No, no, like, but not good. I'm talking about on that upper, upper tier. - Okay, so I'll leave. - You have this guy. Yeah, sure. The way, when I'm talking about this, I'm talking about with just that guy under center, you don't need to see anything else in the depth chart. You have a chance. - Yeah, that's under. - They don't have that. Like, I love Jalen Hertz, leader of men. - Oh, how did I forget about Jalen Hertz? - But he's not that guy either, man. - Oh, I don't know about that. - No, no, no, no. - Jalen Hertz is very good. Jalen Hertz is a floor setter. - Okay, Dak is not that. - No, Jalen Hertz is, he's there, in my opinion. He's close. - Couldn't stem the bleeding last year. - Oh, come on. - Oh, it's true. He's close. - This is why the NFL is about to see. We're doing hot takes. - I'm a big Jalen Hertz guy. So I'm more motivated than the leader. - I sat in literally the chair you're sitting in 'cause Ben was here. Screaming about how good Jalen Hertz and the Eagles were all year. So like, don't take this as me as some Hertz detractor. It's just, he's not, he's not Jackson. He's not the home, he's not my homes, he's not Allen. He's not burrow. - Okay. - He might not be Stroud. And that's more about Stroud than it is about Hertz. And I'm not dedicating him to say he's the seventh or eighth best quarterback in the league or something of that ill. - He's still very good. - Very good, but not franchise. - You can win a Super Bowl with him. - Of course you can. I watched Brad Johnson win a Super Bowl. - Can you win a Super Bowl? - And I say this as respectfully as possible. 'Cause I think the lines are great. Can you win a Super Bowl with Jared Goff? - Yeah, you think you can. - I think you can. If everything else sits around it, yes. I feel the same way about Hertz. But I think obviously that's very different, right? Like Hertz, Hertz, well, the other thing with Hertz, and I can't believe we're doing this, but again, this is why the NFL is the best. - It's amazing. - Hertz, the window is shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. If you want me to be Jalen Hertz and be the physical runner he is in the push push or brotherly shove or whatever, that's only gonna exist for another couple of seasons, quite frankly, at best. And he can alter his play and maybe be a different player, but yeah, the Eagles, like they gotta get it together in a big way 'cause I can't remember a team falling off a cliff the way we saw them do it last season. They're 10 and one and then just stumbling to the playoffs by the time it happened. I don't know why we're talking about that, but God, it was entertaining. - It is entertaining, it's fun. - It's fun to do at the very least. Michael Grange, gonna join us next. Talk to him about Jamal Murray. How big of an impact will he have on Canada basketball's fortunes at the upcoming Olympics? And, you know, Grange is a sports fan. We're gonna get a flag bearer today. I'm curious who he wants, walking in, holding Canada's flag at the opening ceremonies on Friday. Grange joins us next. Fan Morley Show continues on SportsNet 5.9 of the fan. - Covering the Blue Jays from an analytical perspective. Jay's Talk Plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download Jay's Talk on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. - Today is the day. - What? - They're gonna name a flag bearer for Canada to open the Olympics. Oh, guys, by the glass, we're shocked. They had no idea what I was about to say. No, that's all. I mean, it's a big deal. It'll be a fun debateable when we get it. And I crystallized my opinion on the matter. Andre de Grasse, that's my guy. That's who I want to get it. He should be fed it. He should be honored. Arm and arm with that policeman. Nah. (laughing) Get that, get Joe Boy out there. - You know, it's so funny about that too. - I had actually, I thought there was a strong or compelling case at least for somebody from that Canadian soccer team to be one of the flagbearers, because it was probably gonna be your only opportunity to actually like celebrate them in that capacity, unlikely for them to repeat their share. - They should just fly the drone, have the drone carry the flag. Like that'd be a great little like, "Hey, we are who we are, come for us." - It's not your nice older brothers, Canada. - That'd be quite the jam. - It's a new different Canada. Probably not though. Probably just gonna be somebody like Degrass or Alexiac or, you know, some very, very well deserving choice. Somebody who, I don't know that he deserves to join us right now. And by that, I mean like, he didn't need to get up at this time just to talk to us, but he's here, is Michael Grange. Grange, thanks for getting up. How you doing this morning? - Isn't this my reward? - Oh, okay. I wasn't sure. Like, you know, I like to say, I've been going on occasion to tease Blue Jays games on the station as, "Hey, threat or promise, I'll leave that up to you." So reward or punishment. I'll leave it up to you. I'm thrilled that you think of it as a reward. Happy to talk to you. Olympic games are starting here. We've already got our first scandal of the games. I don't know if you've seen this already, but we have a Canada soccer drone scandal already. What a start. Is the next subdued story of the Olympic game is gonna be what's going on with Jamal Murray and Canada basketball here. This has been an interesting start to his tenure with this iteration of the national team. - Yeah, I mean, it is a bit interesting and I think there's a lot of little subtext to it, but I think it's going to shake out that Jamal Murray is gonna play a meaningful role for Canada. Will he be playing 35 minutes a night? You know, it doesn't look like it's heading that way and certainly not early in the tournament. You know, could there be a scenario where he is, you know, plays coming off the bench in some way or it's kind of attached to a second unit, plays meaningful minutes that way. I don't know, you know, people are holding their cards close to the vest, but, you know, I think the thing I've been assured for multiple sources now is that, you know, he is going to play in the tournament. He is available to be, you know, an important part of the rotation. And, you know, I think you'll take that. How we get to that point, it's, you know, with Jamal, it's always a little, you know, we can kind of, we can't help but be a little skeptical because of how the last few summers have all shaken out, but, you know, fingers crossed, he's gonna be ready and available. - Grange, are you, and I read your piece yesterday on SportsNet.ca, and you mentioned in there that, you know, at least from the people you spoke to, they had cited that this was, you know, sort of understood, and it was part of the quote-unquote, it was baked into the ramp-up process, but, are you skeptical of that? Like, even though you went, you did your job, you did your reporting on it, and that's what you've been told. Are you still skeptical that that's exactly what sort of transpired here, or what can we deduce from the fact that it just, it just strikes me at least. If you're going to go through the process of ramping a player up, it seems kind of odd for him to play 17 minutes against the United States, and then proceed to not play in the second game, and then play only seven minutes in the third game. Frankly, it would probably be the inverse of how you do it, because you would generally want to, as they say, ramp it up. So are you skeptical at all regarding the explanation that you've, or explanations that you've received, as it relates to what's actually been going on here with Jamal Murray? - Do I think I'm being told all the facts? No. - Yeah. - But I think, you know, I think another way to look at what you've laid out, and you make a good point there, is, you know, that, you know, we went to, he was in training camp. There was no indication that there were significant limitations on him in training camp. That game against Team USA in July 10th in Vegas, he played the 17 minutes, which is kind of on par with what everyone else is playing. There was no, you know, it was, everyone was kind of, there was pretty liberal substitutions that game, 'cause it was the first for everybody. You know, the first little wrinkle was him going back to Denver on the old morning of the 11th, while the rest of the team went to France. And, you know, again, I've been told that was a pre-approved thing, he had a personal issue to deal with in Denver. And so, you know, when you kind of accept that, he went back on Thursday and I think he flew back to France on just past Monday. If I got my dates right, you know, that's a nine hour time change, I think. And, you know, who knows how much training he was able to get in when he was in Denver. And so, you know, I do, you know, and then this is when we get into all the other subtexts as the guy who's going into the last year of his deal. There's a guy who played 59 games last year and was kind of hampered by a multiple soft tissue injuries. There was a hamstring, there were shin splints and then a calf string during the playoffs. Coming off a pretty, by his standards, sub-par playoff performance. So, you know, it's in his interest. He's kind of got a competing interest if we're going to his head. One of you guys, I think he's a competitor. He wants to, you know, he wants to do everything again. I think he really does value playing in the Olympics. But, too, you know, he doesn't want to go out and go full tilt until he's, you know, you've got to be mid-season ready to play in this tournament. And I think he wants to do that at the risk of, you know, another soft tissue injury, some kind of setback when he got a contract extension waiting out there now. You know, Denver, Nuggets General Manager, Calvin Booth, he said in Vegas, I think to Sirius XM Radio, he said, "Look, I mean, you know, it's not going to meet much "of my negotiation. "We're just going to wait and let them get the Olympics "out of the way and, you know, we'll revisit it then." Which sounds really good. And, you know, I have no reason to think it's not how it's going to play out. But it does shift a little risk to the player. Yes. Sounds like don't get hurt in the Olympics and there's a big bag of money waiting for you on the other side of it is what it sounds like to me, personally. Right. And I think, you know, but Team Canada and Rowan Barrett and Jordy Fernandez, who has a great relationship long-standing with Tomohmer. Like, they're cognizant of that, too. And, you know, as much as we love to wrap everything in the flag and I think the players do, too, it is a volunteer mission. And it is a 210 million dollar extension. Yes. And so, you know, it's easy for us to kind of say, well, you know, leave it all on the floor. You know, regardless, you know, do it for your country, great, sure. But, you know, if he blows out as his ACL or something happens because he's not, I mean, that can always happen, right? That is absolute risk when you're playing sports at this level, it can happen in training. But, you know, if you're doing it before you're ready, you know, that's an unnecessary risk. And so, I think that's all that context that it thinks needs to be kept in mind here. But, I think, what it's going to add up to is, you know, 20 minutes of dual memory against Greece. And, you know, I think when you look at the depth of the Canadian Guard rotation, that's a pretty good place to start. Yeah, I think that's the other thing as well. And I think everyone is very understanding of that. Like, even the people who most pound the table to just say, I don't want to hear it, be quiet, play. They can understand the idea of an extension sitting right there. And I think the other thing that helps with this is that, you know, this isn't a Canada-only problem, right? There have been plenty other countries that have dealt with this at various kind of points in their winning window. I do want to step outside of, well, not outside of basketball, but outside of Canada basketball for a second here. LeBron James, named Flagbearer. - Here, before we do that. - Please, please. - Oh, okay, go ahead, Flagbearer, go ahead. - Yeah, I was just going to say, Flagbearers. LeBron James named Flagbearer for the, or the men's Flagbearer for the US Olympic team. I know some people criticize him for that, making it all about himself. Not myself, I understand he was voted, so good, I have no issue with it. Dennis Schroeder, named Flagbearer for the Germans. I wouldn't expect SGA, but do you think there's maybe somebody from the women's team that can get into that conversation for Canada, or what do you make of the idea of just, again, like, you're a sports fan, Grange, the idea of there are two schools of thought. It's like, give it to the most famous person. If Argentina had Leo Messi at the Olympics, guess who's carrying the flag for them? It's Messi. If Shohei was there, he's carrying the flag for Japan. Like, that's the way I look at it, but with North America, we tend to say, we tend to have an ilk about us to say, they get enough, the famous professional athletes. What do you make of that conversation, Grange? - Yeah, I'd probably fall on the line of, I think that there's different athletes who, you know, this is their moment in the sun, and, you know, let's give them the opportunity. That's just me, I guess. I mean, I think, you know, I love watching the Olympics to learn about sports and athletes that I could show down my face 24/7, so. So anyway, so that's that. And I think on the Canadian side, you could really kind of find a really good, I don't want to say compromise, but a really good candidate that would meet a lot of criteria. And for me, it would be Natalia Chonwa, who is going to be a four-time Olympian, which is a record for, I believe, Canadian team sport, certainly Canadian Olympic, Canadian basketball, and it's just been an incredible ambassador for the sport, for basketball in the country, for, you know, and kind of represents everything you want in a modern athlete. I mean, she's going there as a mom, she's been a great professional career, she's been great. Yeah, she's awesome. So that'd be my choice. Saying that, you know, I'm not completely up to speed on, you know, every worthy candidate in every corner of the Canadian Olympic team. And I accept that there's some pretty special people who are, you know, could probably deserve a little bit of sunshine themselves. So I'm not going to pound the table, but a four-time Olympian who stands to what Natalie Childs stood for in her career is a good choice. And I'm not sure, do we have separate flagbearers for men and women? I'm getting the, I don't know this definitively, but Jeff has a party. I will throw him under the bus if he's wrong about this. It does seem like we'll have a male and a female flag bearer for the brothers. Yeah, they do, the way they do it, it's structured opening ceremony, one male, one female flag bearer, closing ceremony, one flag bearer overall for the group. So that's how they do it. Okay, so on the men's side, look, I would have no problem if it was Shay. Just because he's, again, that's, I mean, I think if you're looking for a role in Canadian sports right now, I mean, you don't have to look too much past him for everything he represents, both as a competitor and as a person. Like, I think he's just really what, you know, in a basketball sense, he's very comfortably picked up the mantle from Steve Nash. And I don't say that lately. - Yeah. But again, you know, Damien Warner, for a pretty good choice under DeGrasse, we've been pretty good. - Yeah, that's my DeGrasse. - Pretty deep field. - Yeah, DeGrasse field. And again, like, I think this is actually the reason why this is the one, like, pure fun sports debate, because we'll sit here and we'll argue about, hey, top five guys in the NBA or quarterbacks in the NFL or, you know, number one centers in the NHL. And you are generally speaking, just as much making a case for your person as a gangster, whoever is being presented to you. With this, I rarely hear, yeah, bad pick for a flag bearer. It's like I'm willing to hear all arguments. It's like, I will sit here and say, will you ask me to pick a man specifically? It is DeGrasse. Like, I think he checks all the boxes. He's had the moments. This is like the way to send him off into the sunshine. But if you want to tell me it's Damien Warner, you know what I say? Great choice, Grange. I love it. - And you know what those guys have in common? - What? Both were not good enough to play basketball at the levels they wanted to play at. - Yeah, it's true. - So they had to, you know, they had to find something else to do. - Yeah, they adapted their, yeah. - That's right. - You know, Canadian basketball. It's the pool that keeps going. - Honestly, Grange, I'm just so used to Western, like people from Western University, like in London bragging about it. I'm like, what's DeGrasse's connection there? I know Warner works out there. And I don't even think you're a Western guy. Just like the tenor of that, it sounded like there was gonna be a brag about the Mustangs in Purple and White in London. - I do have a degree from Western, but that's not it. No, they were both, yeah. They were both really good high school players who recognize that they just weren't athletic enough to be Canadian basketball. - Yeah, which is, you know, and for one of the fastest men in the world. - That's amazing. - And the world's greatest athlete, pretty good thing to say about Canada basketball. Grange, I'm with you. I love the Olympics. It's gonna be a super fun few weeks coming up here. And yeah, we'll be cheering on all the Canadians, but specifically on the hard court as well. Thanks, Grange. - Thank you. - There it goes. Michael Grange. It was his reward for writing that wonderful Jamal Marie piece. - Absolutely. - He gets to come on with us. He gets to wave the flags. Say it should be a chanwa. I think that's a great choice there. I do actually believe that though. In every other sports debate, we're gonna talk about it with a Cy Young Award. I mean, not, but I'm just gonna tell you to give it to Paul Skeens and everyone else is wrong. But we'll denigrate the person that someone else is propping at. With flag bearer talk in the Olympics, very rarely is it that's a bad choice. - Very rarely, guess what? It's a good choice, almost always. There might be a better one. There might be someone you like a little more, but almost always. It's just about what you're putting forth, not knocking someone else down. - Speaking of flagbearers, we do have an update joining LeBron. - Yes, I do. - In the United States, women's flagbearers. - She's super famous and makes a ton of money, and we see her all year long. - Check, check, check, check. Coco, golf! - Yeah. - Coco, golf, professional tennis player representing the United States will be one of the flagbearers in the opening ceremonies alongside LeBron James on Friday. - You said LeBron like Trump a little there. That sounded like-- - LeBron, we love LeBron. He's our man, carrying the flag. - It did sound like an auto. - If it was up to Trump, that's what I was going for. But if it was up to Trump, Bryson DeChambe will be carrying the flag. - Oh, God, I got laid too much mileage out of that video yesterday. - Did you really? - Yeah, of course. - So set the group chat aflame. - Amazing. - I woke up from my post show now to 37 hilarious texts from somebody's because of Bryson and that fella play and playing a little bit of golf. It is now time for the Wakenrake presented by Sports Interaction, their home growing sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly. Blue Jays back at it again tonight. A bit of a pick 'em on the Moneyline. J is minus 105 raised, minus 115. The total, once again, eight and a half, once again. I'll be telling you to take the under minus 110 there is what you pay. You pay minus 110 on the other side. If you like the over, but for me, I am going to take the raise on the Moneyline and I'm gonna take the under hit last night. I would expect it to hit again. - I'll play the under with you Gunner. I'll play the under with you also. I know it's Ariel Rodriguez on the Mounts night for the Blue Jays. If you're looking for some actual prop play and I don't know that the numbers would be posting yet at this juncture of the day, but take a look at his out's prop and take the under. This guy doesn't pitch deep in the game. So if it's anywhere hovering around hypothetically 16 and a half, let's say, 'cause that's generally the region, take the under. - It'll be a fast agency Rodriguez always entertaining or at least interesting in his starts one way or another. That was the Wake and Wake presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly. All right, if you can't have your baseball team, be one of the best teams in the sport. I think we all would just like start there. Let's have it be that. If you can't be that, would you like to be the bell of the ball and the most interesting team in the world that everybody can't stop talking about? We heard from Feinstein earlier on, Rosenthal was weighing in on the Blue Jays. We had Jeff Patson and now Ben Nicholson Smith will weigh in on the team. He joins us next. We got one hour left on the Fair Morning Show on SportsNet 5.9 to the fan. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (dramatic music)
