The FAN Morning Show

Adnan Virk on Importance of Sox-Yankees & Adam Stanley on Canadian Open

Ben Ennis and Brent Gunning kick off the final hour of the FAN Morning Show talking about how the Yankee’s have recently struggled. Should there be cause for concern? The guys then welcome on MLB Network host Adnan Virk (4:16). He shares his thoughts on the Yankee’s recent struggles and if he thinks they will miss the playoffs. The guys then go over Mike Trout’s recent injuries and what his legacy looks like now. Later, Adan goes over how excited he is for the start of the Summer Olympics and what event he is looking forward to most. Ben and Brent close out the hour with Adam Stanley from the Canadian Women’s Open in Calgary (28:11). How are the fires affecting the tournament? Is Brooke Henderson actually underrated by Canadians? And has Xander Schauffele taken the reins in the player of the year debate? Adam also gets us prepared for the Olympic Golf tournament and what we can expect in both the Men’s and Women’s draws!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Duration:: 47m
Broadcast on:: 25 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

We're going to take a look at what's going to happen. Good morning to a 4759 fan band, Brian Gunning. So we can all agree that blue jays are quite bad, right? Really bad. Can confer playing bad baseball? Yeah. Over the last month or so. We could probably set that. Yeah, but let's just take the month-long sample. Okay. For this purpose. Okay. They've been really bad. They had this tremendous start to the season. So they're right there. And you know what? The Orioles are kind of fading right now as well. But they're right there at the top of the American League East and well entrenched in a playoff spot. But if I mean this continues, I guess that gets fall and falls into doubt. Have a huge series all of a sudden against the Red Sox. They have a lot of fun. And I think that's a lot of fun. And I think that's a lot of fun. That's a lot of fun. And I think that's a lot of fun. I think that's a lot of fun. I think that's a lot of fun. That's a lot of fun. That's a lot of fun. 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He's not wearing this right now, but you know, we talk about this with all kind of big market teams, the Leafs, the Cowboys, the Yankees definitely a part of this is it's great when it's going great. But how does it feel when you're on the other side of it? And if Soto, and I think ultimately what this ends up with is him going to the highest bidder. Now I think there's going to be a lot of teams willing to be that highest bidder. But I think ultimately that's your answer is if Soto says I hate this, I was in San Diego and then we went through it at times and it never ever felt like this for one millisecond. I can see that impacting things. I think his performance is going to be to a place and he is wearing so little of it quite frankly because of that that it won't impact it. But that's the only way. I don't think it's the Yankees going, oh, we need to pivot. We can't just be a two horse team. I think they're going to say agreed. We have two great horses. Let's get more of them, not less. That's the only way I think it affects you. Yeah, I think if they fail, which again, it's twofold missing the playoffs is an obvious like epic failure, but like give it to me bowing out early. Honestly, not winning the division is also a failure in its own right. But yeah, playoff failure makes the Yankees more desperate to sign one Soto to whatever he requires monetarily to be signed. They were probably at that place already. But yeah, it's going to make him even more desperate. All right, time now for our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and the showroom visit Don Valley, North Lexus dot com. It is the great ad Dan virk of MLB Network. How's it going? I'm Dan. And I appreciate it. Good old great adjective being affixed to my name. I appreciate it. And speaking of the great one so I enjoyed the conversation you guys are just having. And I'll give you this that because then we like our analytics. OPS plus. See, if you look at the entire Yankee lineup, just little judges OPS plus of like 207. So this is 190. Stanton's is 180. Of course, it shows so much they've missed him. Being able to line up. Their rice is over 100. And that's it. Every other player below league average. Can you think of a team? As you said, like to not even when the division will be a disappointment. Obviously that's the philosophy catastrophic then. But it's kind of remarkable that only a game and a half out of the division title. I think got three guys who are above league average right there. And one of them is a guy that we would have heard of two months ago and then right. Yeah, and you know what? It's the Orioles aren't playing great baseball right now either. They're three and seven in their last 10 and they are only a game and a half up on the Yankees. Despite the fact the Yankees are 10 and 20 in their last 30 games. I mean, in evaluating this blue Jay's team and their ability to compete in 2025. The common refrain has been well, yeah, you're you're screwed because you play in the toughest division in baseball, which may still be the case. But I don't know that we might not have a hundred game winner in the American League this year. Adnan. I agree. It's become a thought process of the last year. And I think that's a good reason Alleece is always the best division and the two centrals are great. And yet now if you look at the Al Central like, well, you know, Cleveland might end up having the best record in the league. Kansas City is pushing for the playoffs and Minnesota might end up statue division. So I know the White Sox are still there and they might set a record for 120 losses. But you've got three teams in the center that could make the playoffs and as far as the Alleece is concerned. And for us, you know, J's are dreadful. The Rays are a 500 team and it's really bad to move into the central. So I'm with you in the past. You would have thought, oh, my God, this division is a juggernaut. But I think it's kind of been underreported. It's definitely been well publicized. How much the Yankees and struggles a little under the radar. How Baltimore hasn't exactly been on fire recently as you mentioned, three and seven the last 10 and a pretty good showdown series. Yankees Red Sox coming up like New York going to Fedaway. My man Alex Gore just got a little richer three year deal for seven million a year, which I'd said to my tech and I was a great council got five years for 40. You know, you're underpaid. What's going on? And he laughs and not I'm happy here. The dollars are still great. By the way, just just to show you how managers can still get paid, at least in that case of Alex can in his career. He made just under 15 million dollars. He played like 12 seasons in the majors. Again, you know, a complimentary player utility guy. Fine, but still now it's a manager, 21 million dollars of the three years. It's crazy. But Yankees Red Sox should be fun. Yeah, well, let's let's kind of sit on that for for a second. I mean, we have had a few of these kind of marquee series all already this year and I don't want to overstate what this is. Like this isn't the heyday of Yank socks and like all four and Pedro's going to go, you know, throw some 90 year old man head over heels. I don't think that's going to happen here. But again, we've had these series so far like Yankees Dodgers earlier this year. That was a ton of fun. But how important is it for baseball to kind of have these every once in a while where the because again, it is such a market driven sport. You care about your team the most. You care about your division a little. And then, you know, the care level for most people kind of drops off beyond that. How important do you think it is for baseball to have these kind of marquee regular season series that can feel big? I mean, in a world where the Mets and Yankees are both going subway series can certainly feel that way. Like it doesn't just have to be socks, yanks. But how important is it for us to kind of have these things we can get excited about because we see another sports all the time, right? Like we'll have a big NBA game on the schedule. Everyone's excited for it. You know, up here, it's like, hey, Saturday night, it's going to be leafs and oil. Get excited for that or whatever it is. It doesn't seem like baseball is able to kind of capture as many of those. And maybe this series is good a chance as any. No, I'm with your brand. I think it's honestly the biggest challenge that baseball always faces is that the sport over time has become less national and more regionalized. And it doesn't mean the sport is not hugely popular. Last year, we had 70 million in attendance, which was a good member to hit the first time in a few years. And if you look at local sports, you know, you're going to be able to get a number of dollars in local TV ratings like, you know, the Pirates and Pittsburgh are like, you know, the highest rate of thing in town because people love supporting their local team, which you're right on a national level. If you just say, Hey, there's a great Rangers Astros match up. It's tough to collectively get people interested. But I'm with you. I think there are certain series that resonate. I think Yankees Dodgers is one of them. That was an awesome series. I went to that Sunday night game. Well, Mookey Vets went deep. Judge went deep. It was great. It's been kind of a funky year. Like, normally, you know, once basketball and hockey ends and baseball kind of dominance for a while, but this year, it's been a little unusual in that we did have zero, which I know is obviously huge in Canada along with soccer fans. You know, I obviously still like Wimbledon. The Olympics is starting tomorrow night. So like, you may have had these other events, which sometimes have taken away from baseball a little bit. So I think if you're able to say to somebody, Hey, I don't know what's going on this weekend. I've already followed my NFL many camp news. Oh, Yankees Red Sox. Oh, that's always a fun story to watch. I mean, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. 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I don't know why we would do this. But I guess just encourage students to speak up. They're like, if you ever want to talk about current events, you can come to the class. They have like 10 minutes at the end of the day before recess. And every day for some reason, I was just so immersed in the Ben Johnson era. I'd go up to the guys. I just got this article in the Kingston Wicks standard. It speaks to you about Charlie Francis and the latest on status all. Let's all spell it together. S-T-A-N-O-L-S. That's what Ben Johnson was captured with. So trust me, dude. That's like a forward part of my youth is the Ben Johnson saga. In fact, I was trying to defend Ben, I think, as much as I could as a kid to McDonald. We won. We won, though. We didn't need to cheat. Everybody was a cheater, though. They were all cheaters. So, Carl Lewis is so dirty. They just never caught him. This is nonsense. So, yeah, I did get that similar article. But one of my buddies said I was more amused to be honest with. All right. Can I get an after using drones to spy? I just love the idea of a self-imposed suspension. Like, I just love the idea of like one of us screws up on here. We go to our boss, you know what? I'm taking Friday off. Like, what? I got it. [laughter] And, of course, I'm going to have to harvest the day. I'm taking a four-day weekend. We're going to come back as good as ever. I love it. Yeah, I can't believe the... I mean, we see this all the time. Like, college sports is kind of where it comes to the forefront for me, the idea of like the coach trying to get ahead of it. It is a great move because I think the other thing is well. And, you know, this is something that's like easier for me to say. But it's like, you know, they're yelling at the team. But I don't know, like, one game without the coach. Like, I don't know that it's going to nuke them here. I just... I love this story. Speaking of Olympic sports, maybe we see in it. Where are you at on the idea of baseball ever being a part of it? And, you know, by that, I mean involving the best baseball players. It would need the season to shut down. The NBA is the only league that has the benefit of playing in the opposite time that their league is actually played in. So it doesn't really affect players in the grand scheme of things. It all comes back to owners. And would they ever go for it? Can you at all see a path to that being a thing? I mean, we've forever clamored to get NHL players back. And we're finally going to have it in a couple of years. But, man, it seems like a pretty tricky road for me to envision there ever be in a world where, I don't know, instead of an all-star game, the league shuts down for a week and a half, two weeks, to play a tournament for the Olympics. It definitely will be tricky, Brent. But I could see it happening. The legendary Bob Cox, this was a speaking about this in a pod. You know, for all the talk about the Olympics that have dimmed in terms of their popularity. This is a critical stretch they have come up. Paris should do very well, right? City of lights, time zone friendly. Relatively speaking for us, five, six hours, so it's not horrible. And, you know, we'll see what happens. After that, winter Olympics in Italy, Italy always in chanting. Again, not too bad with the time zone, compared to what we have at Beijing and, you know, human rights issues, et cetera. And in 2020, it's Los Angeles. So to your point, like, summer Olympics in LA, because Rob Man prepared a way. And Rob, I believe, is stepping aside in '28. So maybe that's like his final act as commissioner. Yeah, we're going to take down two weeks. We'll figure this out. I want to be able to see Mike Trout, Erin Judge, play for USA. I want to see how Tony played for Japan. I want to see all those great players by the Dominican Republic. I'm with you that it'll be hard practice because the season's so long and you got to take that break. But I'm telling you, man, your picture, literally picture one, so it'll go deep for the Dominican Republic against Judge America. How crazy that crowd would be. Like, it'd be epic. Yeah, thank you for bringing up Trout, who would be 37 in four years. He turns 33 on August 7th. He just had a setback in his rehab. So we just saw Kevin Kirmer say he's calling it quits at the end of this year. Like, I'm not comparing the two, but he's only 34, right? Like, it comes fast. Mike Trout is still like an obvious first ballot slam, dunk Hall of Famer right now if he never plays another game, which now like I'm open to the possibility of like that happening. Like, I don't know, where are you on Trout who's just been so injury plagued the last like half decade of his career. This is a guy that rightly so. We were talking about maybe finishing his career as the greatest player that ever lived. And he's in the conversation still, but it's just tragic what's happened to him injury wise the last couple of years. Yeah, tragic is the perfect word for it. Then last year, remember, there was some subtle love. Maybe the Angels could move Trout. Not sure what the story got leaked, but there was some reports about it. And I remember thinking like, oh my God, if I was the Angels and I could get out of this contract, absolutely. And there was some talk maybe Philadelphia be interested. Again, Trout's from Millville, South Jersey, grew up a Phillies fan, you know, Phillies always all in. Nebraska never makes a move, but he does not want to go all in all the time. So I'm like, oh my God, yeah, like when you looked at the contract, I'm like, he still has like, I think it's like 270 million dollars left. Like, oh my God, I'm like, yeah, if the Angels could get rid of him, Mike would agree to him. Like, I would trade him. And now it's like, there's these untradable because as you said, he has not sustained any modicum of health. I mean, I think he's played something like 41% of games in the last four seasons. Like you think about Rendon's contract, which is like all time worst. And again, he's back down playing terribly. And I'm like, Oh, no, yeah, numbers are still horrible. Like, Rendon is like a laughing stock, like an exhibit A of bad contracts. But if you just looked at Trout's inside the extension, it's bad. Like, it's in that realm. And you're right. At one point, then you could have said modern day Mickey Mantle, three time MVP, couldn't get 700 home runs. I'm a view is his career is just crawled with trickle. And at this point, I like buying boxing. You go, hey, just give me 120 games. Like, you'd be thrilled that you'd get two thirds of a season and with that kind of output, 33, he's not going to be one of the greatest players ever. He'll be a guy who had an unbelievable career, had a great stretch. But yeah, you just want to see the healthy at some point. It's sad. Well, they have to get you're right. Tratches the right word for it. Yeah, it's a bomber. Maybe when he comes back, he can, I don't know, maybe as a DH, it prolongs his career. But yeah, it's just tough to see a guy that really defined a generation of baseball. Adnan, always a pleasure, buddy. Always fun, boys. And don't forget self and post suspension. Be a leader. Be proactive. We'll do so. Hopefully, I don't need to, but yeah, I'll be using that tool in my tool belt. Thanks, buddy. All right. Thanks, boys. Take care. You too. Adnan, Burke MLB Network. Our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit Don Valley North Lexus dot com. Mike Trout was very good. Is he ever going to play in a game that matters again in his life? Tough question. Not for the Angels. No, definitely not. And that probably means no. And as Adnan rightly points out, like, you're not getting anything in return for Mike Trout at the moment, unless he proves that he's healthy at all, which doesn't feel like it's happening this year. He just had a setback. It's almost August. Yes. So he's going to go into his age 33, about to be 34 season young, where he's played here, the game totals, not the last like year, the last four years, 2021, 36 games. Oh, no. So in 2020, if you played in the NHL, yeah, in 2022, this is pretty good, 119 games. Hey, that's a real live effort. Last year, he played 82. Okay. He played 29 this year before getting hurt. And now how to setback. Yeah, this is a guy that was. It was must watch television, right? Three time MVP. Oh, that that catch he made in Baltimore. Rob and the homer there. Incredible. He finished second four times in MVP award voting has another fourth place finish, another fifth place finish. Skye was just automatic every single year. And yeah, early in his career, you're right, playing great defense in center field, even stealing 49 bases in his first full season as a major leaguer. Again, he's a Hall of Famer. Yep. But that's different than what we were talking about him in the early stage of his of his career was this guy is going to be the best that ever did it. Yep. When it's all said and done, he's not going to get to 2000 hits. Mm hmm. He's not going to get to. I don't know. Well, is that it seems hard to imagine getting to 500 home runs, honestly, right now, is it 378? Yeah. Again, Sandy Kofax, like there's and it's a longer track record than Sandy Kofax ad. It's like how, how bright were you at your brightest even if it was a short period of time and it was longer than the what? Like half decade of of a career that Sandy Kofax had where like he pitched so much that he couldn't feel his hand at the end of his career, but yeah, the conversation will no longer be about Mike Trout greatest of all time. Yeah, no, I think I personally am already past that. Like I just can't see a world in which there is that like the idea that he was banged up from years 26 to 30. And that's when you find health. I don't know about you as I've gotten older. I don't feel a whole lot healthier here. I I wish for him that he would have the chance to play in games that matter, but it is so tough that the lasting legacy of him for for so many people as a baseball player is one moment and one moment only. And it's so tiny telling them to take a seat in the only that any good the I went to look it up. I don't even need to do it because I have a committed to memory. He is one for 15 in his playoff career, but like all things by trout, the one hit was a homer. Like the one thing he did was the best thing you could do. It's just remarkable. And to have a guy we've seen great players never win one. We've seen that before like Dan Marino's you know, Charles Barkley, we've seen that one Charles Barkley was not supposed to become the greatest player of all time based on the early trending of his career. You know, Marino, it's like maybe there was a case going on for that, but those guys had some playoff success. Now granted. Moreno was in a Super Bowl. Exactly the idea that and the sports are a little different in that regard. Like baseball, you probably have the least say on what happens around you is just one guy. But there has never been a player of this ilk that has had just no moment, no sniff. I feel like you'd have to go back to 40s baseball when if you didn't win the pennant, you didn't play in a game that mattered. Like I honestly think we'd have to go back to somebody of that ilk. It is remarkable in a era of across all sports of player empowerment and everything that's happened there that you've had this guy just locked into his dystopian hellscape of either I'm great and I get no help or I am no help because I'm hurt all the time. It's just it's remarkable. Yeah, angels still stink without a agree. They can stink with him or without him. Doesn't matter one thing we know for sure is the angels will stink and they do again this year angels in the field. So what they need correct any Glover when we come back. The CP CP KC Canadian women's open is about to start in Calgary except like the air is bad. It is going to start on time though, apparently. Okay. Yeah, they said forest fires be damn. These girls are going to play some golf. Okay. That's good news for our next guest is we'll talk to Adam Stanley sports net golf reporter next is the fan morning show continues bananas. Brent Gunning sports net five ninety the fan. Everything you need to know about the blue jays Blair and Barker be sure to subscribe and download the show on apples Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Good morning. So Brooke Henderson would have been a good pick to be our Olympic flag bearer problem with that. So that would be very inconvenient. She busy because she's in Calgary right now getting ready for the Canadian women's open. She will be in France not in Paris. I don't know. Where's the golf rent? Oh, it's at Lee golf. Nationale. I don't know where that is. But and also I'm not making that up. That totally could have just been like that's what they call a golf course over there. The French golf. Yeah, please. The French to swing the sticks. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, so she's she'll be there eventually two time major champion, but trying to win the national open on the LPGA tour where we find our very own Adam Stanley sports net golf reporting. How's the air over there, Adam? The air is actually much better this morning. Last night had a dinner was walking back to the hotel very apocalyptic, very, very hazy orange. It was and smelled like campfire. It really was was not good today. It's actually there's supposed to be some rain here today. So the air quality broke for the better, which is good. It's only a five on the air quality index advisory from the government last night. I think it was like a nine. So we have we have improved and the golf is supposed to start on time today, 7 a.m. Calgary time. I was floored when I when I saw that and you know, I like part of it is not totally understanding the geography of how close that golf course is to Jasper, which is kind of the epicenter of this. But yeah, it's I mean, it's remarkable. Anytime you have something like this, I mean, do you think it's going to affect things much out there? I mean, like our player, like you said, the year is better. It's at a five. We've seen people when there's smog days in the city wearing masks and stuff like do you think it's going to affect the players at all the smog and like it's impossible to say like who that benefits, but it's hard to think it won't impact somebody one way or another. Yeah, I mean, I think the short answer is yes, you know, it's obviously is an outdoor sport, right? Like there's there's walking involved. There's there's heavy breathing. There's regulated breathing as you're trying to calm down before you hit your shots. And you know, if the air quality is is not it's not good, it's going to impact some of the folks out here to your point about about Jasper, you know, it's about a four hours drive from here, but I mean, that's a complete devastation situation that they're looking at. You know, the entire town has been evacuated, you know, obviously it's also there's much bigger things than this. But of course, the Jasper Park Lodge, you know, annually inside the top five, the best golf courses in the country. So obviously thoughts with with that entire town and everyone there who has connections to it as far as, you know, the impact from those wildfires down to Calgary where we're at. You know, I do think that this kind of this morning haze is probably going to keep lingering. I think that would be anyone who's coming off in the morning will probably get the brunt of it and then it'll kind of clear out as the day goes on and then certainly over the next couple of days, so remains to be seen Elena Sharp told me yesterday, you know, it wasn't as bad as the day before, but, you know, she could feel it in the throat. She said she was, you know, it was really just all put dry out there. So however that impacts professional golfer certainly remains to be seen, but I do think that the morning wave today is going to get the brunt of it. Yeah, what was that last summer that we had it here in the GTA or was it two summers ago? Oh, that's right. Yeah, that was that was weird and not ideal. So yeah, obviously film with the people of Alberta right now. You had a great one-on-one with Brooke Henderson yesterday. Adam is posted to your Twitter timeline as well. This is obviously a huge couple of weeks for her as she's going to be going to the Olympics and she's won this event before and she's our our our our best golfer men, women doesn't matter. She's she's the best chance. We got week in week out to win a golf event. How big a star is she? I don't think that she is as big of a star as she deserves to be to be honest and and it's it's tricky to analyze her her on course efforts because really the only person that we have to compare her to is her like she's got six top 10 finishes this year, including a third at a major, you know, she's six and scoring average on the LPGA tour and I think she's like eight ingredients regulation. You copy and paste that that result timeline to any male player, especially at a at a major, you're going to think that they've had the best season of all time. Meanwhile for Brooke, she hasn't won. So it's like, hey, it's a down year for Brooke. What's going on? So it's it's just an interesting way that we that we compare her to anyone else because really she's in her and her own her own stratosphere. You know, I do think that her body of work so far in 2024 has been very, very solid. Certainly you look at just pure numbers and compare them over the year. It there's been an improvement. Yes, there hasn't been a victory yet, but the LPGA tour just as a whole, you know, we're we're so wrapped up in the PGA tour and they're like getting ever close to the FedEx Cup playoff and their season is pretty much done, you know, the LPGA still has one more major left. They've got the Olympics to they've got their tour championship with a four million dollar first place prize to their tour championship, which happens in November. And it's also a soul hunt cup year, which is the annual event or by annual event between Europe and the United States. So there's still a ton that's going on on the LPGA tour side of things. You know, Brooke could win knock off another major win. She could win this week. You know, she's probably got at least 10 tournaments left for her, including the big one at the end of the year. And yeah, it's just one of those things where because she hasn't won, it's like, hey, what's wrong? But really, there's nothing wrong. She's just she's playing very consistent golf and it's just a matter of stringing for a good round together. Yeah, it is a it is a crying shame that there is no female equivalent of the president's cup. But that's just because, you know, I'm saying this year. You don't have to agree with me, but it's just because the Americans are getting smoked by Brooke Henderson and all of all of her friends from South Korea. Like it would be a be a bloodbath quite frankly. So I think that's why it doesn't exist. But yeah, she doesn't get the shine there. We talk about this all the time. Like one in Olympic medal would do. Nick Taylor is a massive star in this country. Now he would have been a star if he won the Canadian open by six shots and he cruised to a victory. But the fashion in which he did it, the putter throw, the 72 foot putt, all of that led to it. Do you think an Olympic medal would really change things for Brooke? Because I would have thought her winning the Canadian open would have changed it. I would have thought her winning the first major would have changed it. I certainly would have thought winning the second major would have I would have thought again, stacking the accolades that she's been able to do. And it just doesn't seem to take hold. Now like we've talked about this part of it is the personality of the individual. She is not necessarily someone who wants to be selling herself. And that's fine. Go about your business your own way. But I really do think the Olympic medal would present her with really quite frankly, her only opportunity because she's done everything else you can ask of her and it hasn't broken through. It feels like the Olympic medal is the only thing she has left that could maybe give her that star turn that she deserves. Yeah, you know, I think a couple of good points to touch on their both Nick Taylor and Mike Weir, you know, they have these this moment is attached to their win, right? Like Nick's putter throw, the winning of the RBC Canadian Open, you know, the 72-foot putt, he won that event. So there's like this moment in time that you will always tie to Nick Taylor. Same with Mike Weir. Yeah, he won with a bogey in a playoff. But you know, the arm raise, green jackets coming north of the border. Mike Weir has won the Masters is a moment. I think because Brooke Anderson has won so much and, you know, the way that she has done it hasn't been, you know, as as dramatic as the two men who I just mentioned, an Olympic medal would take her to a completely different level with respect to Canadian sports fans knowledge of her. Like she's been in the Olympics. This is going to be her third time. She's been in there and she's probably going to be in LA and assuming she's still playing, she'll probably be in the one afterwards as well. But yeah, winning an Olympic medal is the moment. Obviously, if she wins the gold medal, it's a completely different story. But any Olympic medal, you know, that it's just going to be on the TV. She's going to be the lead in the shows, in the newspapers, in the global golfing coverage of that event. It's going to be all Brooke Anderson all the time if she ends up winning a medal. So I do think that that could be her like her big moment that, you know, we still talk about George Lyon winning the first double medal of 1904 not obviously in the same breath as some of these other modern players. But yeah, if Brooke ends up doing it in summer, I think that that's going to be the thing that just registers her on the radar of more Canadian sports fans, not just golf people. Does she care about any of that? Like, well, give me some insight into her mentality in this because she's plastered all over all the billboards in Calgary. Obviously, she's at the face of this event. She won it in what 2018. She has 13 LPGA tour wins and a couple of majors. Does she care about the perception? Does she want to continue to grow her brand, her star? Yeah, it's a curious point because, you know, again, she did win this tournament. She won the CPKC Women's Open. But with all due respect, she did win it in Regina, right? She didn't win it in Vancouver or Toronto. But it wasn't snow pants because the T-times got pumped up. It couldn't have been any more Canadian Stanley. It was a rough day. Yes, can confirm. Then I think to answer your question specifically, like, no. Like, she doesn't really care about that. She cares about, you know, being a good person, growing the game, taking time for kids. And the crazy thing is, she's 26 years old. But there's a girl, and I use the word "girl" because she just turned 16 and she was 15. Michelle Deng, she was 15 when she won the PGA of Canada Women's Championship a couple of weeks ago to get into the field. And she's trotting out, "Oh, when I was growing up, Brooke Henderson was my idol." [laughter] And she's just being like, "Pardon?" So that's just what it is, right? Like, we've got the Mike Weir generation right now in the PGA tour. And I basically tell anyone who will listen to that. We are on the cusp of the Brooke Henderson generation. You know, Vanessa Borvalos, she just turned 18. You know, she's going to be the next one. Guaranteed, well, nothing's guaranteed in golf. But I would say that she's going to be the next one. Then we've got Michelle, who I mentioned. You know, she's 16. Like, we've got this group and they're going to make it happen. And that's kind of the thing that Brooke cares about. You know, starting a foundation soon. You know, maybe having her name tied to this tournament in a more formal capacity. You know, just kind of -- she's from Smith Falls, Ontario. There's 6,000 people from there. She goes back whenever she can. They've got a little family cottage on a lake, not that far from there. And that's where she likes to go. And she lives a simple life and she's incredibly happy. And then she's this country's best golfer of all time. Yeah, how can you knock her? You can't. You can't. They just don't talk about her. No one ever knocks her. Like, if you bring her up, everyone goes, "Oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot, agreed." That's the thing. Like, there's just -- there's not even a controversial opinion to be had. It's like, occasionally we'll do that. Mm, she should talk more and then we talk about it. And then maybe -- maybe she shouldn't. I did like that breadcrumb you left there. We won't expand on it any further. But yes, we will be watching to see Henderson's name potentially tied to a tournament. That's not -- not nothing there. Switching over, I mean, we'll use Olympic tie in as the -- as the point here. Men's Olympic golf, a weird thing. Like, I was -- the point I continue to come with is, okay, it's not a major, obviously. Is it the players? Is it, like, winning the FedEx Cup in terms of how much we care? If it's not one of the marquee guys who wins, do we care at all? Like, we've had two real winners of this thing in Justin Rose and Xander Shoffley. But hey, it's a golf tournament. They're playing stroke play. Anybody can win this thing. How does men's Olympic golf kind of fit into the hierarchy of the sport? Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the gold medal winners, because we also have a Rory Sabatini winning the silver. The boy from Brontislava. Yes. Brontislava, after shooting 61 in the final round in Tokyo, right? But such is golf. Now, I am probably more -- again, it kind of goes back to our comments from a couple of minutes ago, just about the individual. You know, Rory, the other Rory, Rory McRoy, a couple of years ago, he's like, "I have never fought so hard to finish third at a tournament in my life. I think I've used that line with you guys before." But that was what Rory said, you know, after he fell short in the playoff to win bronze. So I think it's starting to mean something to this current generation. And I think it's going to mean a lot more to the next generation, because it's just installed in their life that there's an opportunity to win an Olympic medal in golf. You know, in 2016, it was just never a dream of anyone, because it just hadn't existed for 100-plus years. Now that it has, and it continues to be, the evolution of the potential Olympic competition to include a male/female portion or more of a team portion versus just, you know, stroke play. I think in LA in 2028, there is going to be, like, another layer of competition to Olympic golf, which is going to be awesome. But I do think that the final point, just for me real quick, is that I think that I'm more tied, more excited about the men's Olympic golf competition than I have been over the last couple of years because of Xander and Scott, like, this is kind of like their player of the year race, like, coming to a head at the Olympics, the biggest global stage in sport. And if we're coming down in the final round, and it's these two titans of the game, you know, battling for a gold medal, like, that really means something. What, how to clarify or classify it or characterize it as a major? Or I think it's just, no, it's just something different. It's an Olympic medal. And I think if it's Scottie and Xander coming down to the end, that would be pretty darn cool. Yeah, there are 50% of the American team, along with Colin Morekawa. And Wyndham Clark, who, yeah, he's there. He's very nice. He's doing some stuff. Who do you have as the leader right now for player of the year? Because Xander has only two wins, a couple of majors though. Scottie, with six wins, one major title, is that, I don't know, do the two majors supersede what Scottie did and, you know, him being on this, getting ready to have the season-long slam. So everybody thought early on the season, like, who do you have as the leader at this point? I think, you know, it's, you know, it's curious about the back and forth. Let's just, if you ask Corey Connors, for example, Corey, who season would you rather have? I think some of these guys would say that they would rather have Xander's seat. They would rather have, have the two majors versus, you know, the six wins. But let's not take anything away from Wyndham. He obviously won the Masters and he won all the money. And he has had an absolutely spectacular actual on-course effort. Like the ball striking, just everything has been so spectacular for Scottie Sheffler. And yeah, he won the Masters and he won the players. And those are big, big things. But when it comes down to, I guess, legacy, when it comes down to historical look back, winning two majors in the season, you know, that's a career for a lot of the best golfers who have ever played this game. So, you know, I think if that's the question, I think a lot of the guys would rather have Xander's season. And if that's kind of the line that we're looking at, you know, I mean, I'm not going to give it to Xander. I think I would still say Scottie at this point. But, you know, we've got to get to. We've got to get to the Fettest Cup Playoffs still and go from there. Because it's wild to think that Scottie Sheffler may not actually win the biggest season-long prize in, you know, in the PGA Tour because of the way that the Fettest Cup Playoffs has set up. So, I still think it's Scottie, the on-course effort, the number of wins, including a major, you know, he's just been the best all the way through and Xander's beaten him at two weeks. But it just so happened to be two of the biggest weeks of the year. Yeah, I think you nailed it there with what the players would say. I'd imagine almost to a man. I mean, maybe some guys just say, I don't know who made more money. That's the year I'd rather have. There's definitely a portion of guys that would look at it that way. But I think in terms of accomplishments, it's always the majors that kind of stand out. The thing I'm most happy about, Stanley, and you know, this is a hobby horse of mine, is I'm just happy we're over 200 days away from the next major. So, I can pump the brakes on telling everyone that Xander Shoffley is not now going to go on to win seven of these things. We do this all the time in this sport. Somebody wins one or two in a short period and we go, the sky's the limit. And it is. I'm not going to put a ceiling on him, but I'm certainly not going to tell you. He's going to have a floor of like four or five majors either. No, and Xander just keeps showing up at majors, right? Like he hasn't finished outside the top 20 in like three years at major. But he's he's pretty dialed in when it comes to competing on the biggest stages of the men's golf. And you just always got to think that he's going to be a threat. And it was curious for a while because, you know, some of those those link, like the PGA championship that he won this year at Valhalla, he kind of had no business winning it if it was three years ago. But, you know, he put on the muscle, he added speed, he hit the ball a mile now. So, add that into the rest of his golfing repertoire. And we've got a guy who just doesn't miss. And yeah, when he comes to the Masters next year, he's he's probably not going to be the favorite, but he'll probably be the what a favorite. And there's no real reason why he can't win the Masters next spring. Adam, stay safe out there, I guess. I don't know, like try not to breathe too much. Yeah, and don't let George Rusick bother you too much. And he had to go in studio with him and you survived that. So just like, you know, charm's like the best. We love George, but you know. The first time in studio, so kudos to you guys for doing this every day. It was, I learned a lot. All right, buddy, regulate your breathing. See you, buddy. Yes, thanks guys. Appreciate it. There's Adam Stanley, Sporsett, golf reporter covering the Canadian women's open in Calgary. So Brooke Anderson is the best we got. That's it. Like, there's just no debate. Yeah, two-time major champion, one-seventeen times, like it's a joke. Well, I was just 26. I just pulled it up. Every person ahead of her on the all-time LPGA wins list is either active or in the Hall of Fame. Correct. She's a Hall of Famer right now. And again, 26. Yeah, she has like, you know, a couple decades to continue to stack wins. Yeah, and people know who she is, obviously. But the idea that she's not as big a star as she should be, I think, is very true. By the way, as mentioned, Bush coming to Budweiser stage on August 19th. We're giving away tickets in today's show, to enter for a chance to win Texan. Today's code word, "Man on the run" to 59590. Again, that's "Man on the run" to 59590. Standard message and data rates may apply tomorrow last day for this giveaway. But if you don't win with us, go to ticketmaster.ca. So yeah, kudos to her if she doesn't care about how she's not as big a star as she should be. Yeah. Like, if she was an American golfer, can you imagine the coverage and how big a star she would have been in the United States? Yeah, she certainly would have, but I think the America of it all, like, there can only be one. And like, as good as Brooke, this is like inside women's golf. But like, as good as Brooke Anderson is, she's no Nelly Corda. And I think that's the other thing that kind of holds her back. It's like, there is, that's an easier story for us to tell as well. If she is the number one player in the world with a bullet and she's not. Like, she's tremendous and she's as good a Canadian golfer as we may ever have. And that's fine. But I think that's the other part of it as well. The has to be added into the story is that she is one of the best. Not she's not Sidney Krause, but she's not LeBron James. She's not, whatever. She's best in the sky. Boy is she and I love her. I can't wait to see her tee it up in France. All right. You'll be back tomorrow. We'll be back on Monday with another edition of the fan morning shows. Sportsnet 5.9 is fan Ben and his friend Gunning. Good morning. (dramatic music)