[MUSIC] I knew this was probably going to be my last year. And I was talking to Mark Tarkin, and they were just catching up. And the last thing he asked me regarding what was coming after this year. And I was telling the truth, I said this would be it for me. [MUSIC] And you don't have nothing to hide, it's just a kind of vision that was coming last year, and I'm hearing him with the way my body feels. And the state of our team, is it what our record is? It's been doing a lot of reflecting lately. [MUSIC] >> Fan Morning Show Sportsnet 5.9 of the fan, Ben and his friend, Gunning. That was Kevin Kiermeyer yesterday, as he did reveal to Mark Tarkin. That this is it for him. As you could have well expected, he is 34 years old. Just an ancient 34. No, but like a couple of years ago, coming off of a hip surgery. And then had one of the best years of his entire career last year, honestly. >> It is a good thing Springer has had the bounce back. Or we'd all be going like, George, thoughts, thoughts on that. >> Yeah. >> 34 year old Kevin Kiermeyer retiring. You have any thoughts on the matter, George? >> No, he's back. >> No, he's back all the way. >> Yeah, kind of. Kevin, there's no comparison between the two players. But yeah, Kevin Kiermeyer found no suitors in free agency. So he returned to the Blue Jays who was looking to do something after that. They whiffed on their big free agency target, as you may recall. And he got a raise after last year's $9 million, making $10.5 million this year. That's too much. Said everybody in Major League Baseball. >> They all had a chance. Cuz he was exposed to waivers and nobody picked up the pro rated amount of that for a guy with an OPS of 552. But still with elite foot speed and still one of the best defenders in baseball. That's the way I'll remember him. Like it's, I gotta say, I was pretty critical of the initial signing last off season. Cuz, and especially the messaging from him, it was, yeah, I was told I was gonna play every day pretty much. I was like Kevin Kiermeyer, who is an incredible defender, but that guy isn't gonna produce enough offensively to necessitate playing every day. And he, man, proved me wrong, 129 games for him with the 741 OPS. He was an above average offensive player, playing otherworldly defense, which makes you one of the most valuable players in the sport. Like Dalton Varsho is not an average offensive player and he's still a valuable guy because of the defense he plays. Imagine if he was like league average offensively or slightly above, then you are wow. >> Yeah, I remember earlier in the year when I was like, the power, it's a real thing. >> Yeah, but Kevin Kiermeyer, isn't that now? And it's shame that his career is coming to an end, one of my favorite players to watch. And I, Josh and I are calling him one of the most frustrating players to play against. I think that's accurate. >> Anybody that remembers the Kevin Kiermeyer raised teams, I mean, the raise, so there's a lot of losing involved- >> And hatred. >> Yeah, and especially going into that ballpark, but he was one of the prime, he was one of the prime candidates for the frustrations that Blue Jays fans felt when they went into the drop. He'll be missed. It's, I'll remember him as the best outfield defender of his era, one of the greatest of all time. And a recency bias plays into this, but I don't know, like just sit on, like just in the moment, it feels like God, Andrew Jones, Tory Hunter, Kevin Kiermeyer, I might put Kevin Kiermeyer top. >> Yeah, there is the, I mean, he was the epitome of the meme of like, what is it like? Oh, 60% of the world's covered by water and the rest is Kevin Kiermeyer. You also left out a massive part of his Blue Jays legacy, drove in the run, right? The lone run that they managed to score against the twins. I think the, I think the fact that he feels so different for Jay's fans with this last dallions, obviously, you know, like let's just live in a world where he's a great ray for as long as he is. And then I don't know why I picked the Giants, I guess cuz Paul are ended up there. But he's a giant for these last two years and you think, okay, yeah, he was a player who's frustrated us and we sit there talk lowingly about the defense, but then we kind of leave it. It is interesting how a player coming in. And I think part of it is the lack of expectations that everyone had of him. He managed to supersede them in a massive way last year. And yeah, I think having that as your calling card, defensive center fielder, I mean, the only other position you'd say you wish you could have somebody that ilke has a short stop and just the way the games played today, I don't know that that's as true as it, as it once was. It will definitely be the guy of his generation that goes down in this. I mean, it's he is also going to be somebody that benefits a lot from having the metrics, right? Like the Andrew Jones of the world. Not they didn't exist for them, but especially the early parts of their career just wasn't the same. I think Kiermeyer is probably maybe not the first, but among the first generation of retiring guys who wear defense was their calling card that you have all the numbers for them to kind of kind of back it up. And yeah, he's honestly the embodiment as well of those raised teams and not the bad ones he was on, but it's just, okay, hold on, this guy's killing us. Why? Why is he managing to come come through with a big hit or he swipes a bag or, I mean, the defense is easy to understand why, but he kind of embodies that raised team of just being better than he felt like he should be. And specifically with his first year in Toronto, that was definitely the memory of having. I'm glad you were out of Kevin Palar because this doesn't happen often in sports where so Kevin Palar was a great defender still in Major League Baseball, continues to be a great defender. He had a great offensive season like Kevin Kiermeyer did where he was an average offensive player and ended up like as a four-war player because his defense was so good, but there were a couple of years where he was snubbed for gold gloves when they changed it to just three outfielders and it's like, yeah, left field, center field and right field because, you know, otherwise it's just three center fielders that he was going to win. What do you like? Do you like they're being positioned or you like outfield? No, I like they're being, yeah, if you're a great defender in right field, you're never going to win because it's just nothing but center fielders until we've separated it out. Anyways, there was a, like a hue and a cry that, ah, come on, Kevin Palar is just as good as Kevin Kiermeyer. And then we got to see Kevin Kiermeyer every day and we realize there is a, there is a difference. It's just slightly different. Just better Kiermeyer. Like, I mean, I remember where, or sorry, better Palar. I remember when Palar was here, like, you know, all the ladies that love Palar very popular and then it's like, Kiermeyer comes in and they're like, hold on, who's this? Who's this guy? I mean, he is truly one of like the great hunks of, of our time as well, Kevin Kiermeyer, like that has to go on. The eyes are unbelievable as well. Yeah. There was a like video of him earlier this year was like, you know, the J's are doing those things where they do the like, oh, hey, what's your favorite, you know, you know, plain snack or whatever. And Kiermeyer walked off and he's just wearing this like golf quarter zip. It's unzipped and me and all my buds sent that around to each other like, I don't feel like I could pull this off the way Kiermeyer does. He's just, that has to go on the legacy like he won't go to Cooperstown. But if he did, the last line of the plaque should be like, and look at this, look at this picture at the top, one of the great hunks of our time. I don't think we've seen the last of Kevin Kiermeyer as well. It feels like a guy that's destined for baseball media. Oh. Great. Great talker. And again, you just look at him. So just off the top of my head, all time blue J's defenders at various positions. Scott Roland at third base, Roberto Alomar at second base, Vernon Wells in centerfield and Kevin Kiermeyer in centerfield. Those are the weird, he was about to use to sure throw Devon White in there too. There's been some great and Jose Cruz Jr. When a gold glove outside of Toronto, there's been some, some great center field. There's some blue J's just from your, just, you're just doing homes and belts. He's had some great arms and right field. You're drinking Jose Cruz Jr's, uh, Kool-Aid though. He was like, he was telling us like, yeah, I should have had a gold glove guys. So I agree with them. And I'll say that as well. Yeah. But he's the one that I think it's funny just talking about outfield defense. And this is, I think this is actually like one of my more caveman baseball takes that look, you're a rangey center fielder, great, love it. We all want that. We all love guys, you know, stealing homers over the wall. I actually think the thing that always jumps out to me about a great outfielder is the arm. And that's why Batista, I think, has to have to have to have to go. Oh, Kool-Aid has that as well. No, no, I'm not, I'm not saying it to diminish it, but it's just, I think that is the thing that so often we diminish when talking about great specifically outfield defense. Like, I mean, with Chapman, it was all we ever talked about was his arm, how good it was, the cannon that he had. But I think with Batista, he kind of, I won't, I won't say gets lost. Because obviously he rightfully has his place in Blue Jays lore. But we think of him so much as, I mean, the hitter rightfully so. But that's the thing that, that just for me aesthetically, like I, if you were to tell me like, Hey, watch the 10 greatest catches in baseball history or the 10 greatest outfield throws, giving the outfield throws all day. Yeah. And then Jose about used to try to throw a Delman young at first base and his arm is never the same. I know. Oh, God. I don't like that's never happening again, eh, guy getting thrown out at first from right field. I mean, it might. It hasn't happened in a while. Anyways, so actually, last thing on, on Kevin Kuremeyer, so this is going to be it for him. He, as we mentioned earlier, was already exposed to waivers and at that price, felt like everybody said, thanks, but no, thanks. It was having a fever dream that happened while I was in Alberta. And I was like, I'd been, you know, had a couple of cocktails and it was at the establishment. And I'm like, Kevin Kuremeyer was waved. It just like flashed across the ticker. And then we saw him playing in a game the next day and everyone was like, guns wake up. Come on. Well, indicated. Yeah, it's. Yeah. We're all getting used to the no longer the non waiver trade deadline, but this is instead of the root, the recallable waivers you just put on waivers and if you pass through, you get to continue to play with your team or you're actually removed from the roster and released. But he obviously remains blue Jay. I think Blue Jays are going to be able to pay down the remainder of a salary. He's going to move before the trade deadline because he's still a valuable dude off your bench need an outfield defender. If you've got a roster spot for Kevin Kuremeyer, he can be a lot late inning replacement. Yeah. Yeah. And Bradley was it Zimmer Zimmerman? I always want to call him. Bradley Zimmer. Yeah. Take your mirror. Would you rather see him finish his career on a team with a chance or in Toronto and wave goodbye? Oh, this isn't even close. I don't think you want to see him on a team with the chance. This isn't some, and I suppose I'd feel this way if it was some lifelong Jay as well, but where it's like, Oh, let him have the moment on game 162 and he gets to like throw the first pitch to his dad or what, you know, whatever the like Hall of Fame ending would be. You know, what's a better ending that Kevin Kuremeyer deserves is exactly the scenario you laid out to let him go play somewhere. And I also think part of it is that yes, he is now a like very well liked Blue Jay, but this isn't some guy that if you saw him in pinstripes, it would, it would kill you inside your, I don't know, maybe for some people it would, but I think that's the other thing is that he was here for a short time and you wish him well. I don't think there's some element of like, if this was, you know, like a franchise icon, like a Batista or a Vernon, like you wouldn't want to see those guys as a Yankee or a Red Sock or what, you know, an Oreo right now, I guess, but I don't, I don't feel that way with Kuremeyer. You. Blue Jays are at the Trump September 22nd and their third to last series of the season. It can be a nice little scene. Oh, you know, last game of the series, you substitute them out on deep friends in, in the middle of the game. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the reverse John Crock, it's like he makes a nice catch and then he leaves. Let's be honest here, people at the moment there's perilously little intriguing about the Toronto Blue Jays. But trend, the trade deadlines, fast approaching, it's going to be less interesting beyond July 30th. Give me something. So yeah, no, hold on to Kevin Kuremeyer. Okay. We need that. We need that. Like, Hey, how are they going to approach this? Does he want to leave that game? Does he not want to play? Give him a gift. Right. I like it. All that stuff. Anyways, it feels like that's not in the, in the budget. It's tough. They're like, we got a Amazon gift card. Sorry. Yeah, speaking of meaningless baseball games against the Tampa Bay Rays, Blue Jays won one yesterday. Six, three. Good for them. Rays stink, by the way. They're 500. It is amazing. The Rays are 500 being a bad, just as bad as the Blue Jays. Like those are the Spider-Man mean, but better, yeah, but no, they're not. They're the same. Like they're better in record only. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Like, you know, the counting stats that say which team is better. They've scored fewer runs than the Blue Jays. These are the teams that have given up the most home runs in all of Major League Baseball there. They're bad. Big fly factor. Have you, have you delved back in or that was just a fun week experiment for you? I'm trying. I'm trying here. You know, I'm like a good friend. I brought it up. You meant twice. Yeah. You haven't done the work. Well, you want the credit? Like, do you want me to just take it from you? It's like, this is now mine? No. Because I'm not going to do the work either, just to clarify. Yeah. But I'd like to poke and prod you that you had a great idea and you won't follow through on it. Be better. Yeah, I never, I don't think even initially I followed through and I did it for like a couple of teams, not all 30 Major League Baseball teams. You made it seem like you had all the data. Anyways, raise and Blue Jays both stink and I think eventually, especially when the Rays do their sell off at the deadline because I don't think they're adding. And Esak Pareades could be on the move and Randy or Rosarina could be on the move and a bunch of pitchers could be on the move, including Zach Efland, maybe, who started yesterday's game for the Rays. You know, Rodriguez started yesterday's game for the Blue Jays. It was good again. It's been nothing but good since coming off the IL. His first season as a Blue Jays has been, I think, a rousing success. There's a lot of question for me at least as to how his game would translate as a starter in Major League Baseball after not pitching professionally at all last season. And yeah, he hasn't thrown 100 pitches and he spent some time on the IL. But you would think after this year where he's been on a pitch count where he hasn't thrown 90 pitches in a game yet that, hey, given a whole off season of rest and ramping. Like he's a full-fledged bonafide starter for next season, a year where there's going to be no you say Kikuchi. There is no world in which you can count on Alec Manoa factoring in at all. Anything you get out of Alec Manoa, honestly, from this point going forward in his entire career as a bonus, like him being, I don't know, you would rely on him being a part of your rotation, but penciling him to your rotation is one of the biggest bright spots of the season. Isn't the biggest bright spot? You don't. Okay, just let me, let me pick up on where we pencil him in. You don't look at him and go like, all right, great burrios one and him two and we can fill in or no, we don't do that. But this guy is 1000% given every opportunity to be a part of it. And hey, this is the thing with the Blue Jays. There's nobody coming to win these jobs. Like Ricky Tiedemann, again, like the, just another log on the fire of the Blue Jays season from hell that he has been a non factor in all of this getting a second and third opinion on his elbow. That's generally speaking, when I, I guess I'm going about it myself. If I got the answer I wanted on my first opinion, I'd stop asking people. Well, that's weird. Yeah. It's like, usually you get those opinions after it's like, well, your, your elbow needs to be, we need to rip it off and start from scratch. I was like, no, you're fine. So I'm going to pitch again this year. Another opinion, please. I'm going to pretend that the second opinions is not for his body, but for me, like fixing something in my house. And they're just like, you got to gut everything. I'd be like, not you. Let's find somebody else. And honestly, it sounds like, you know, me, it was like, Hey, no, good news. You can go back to your job is like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Have you seen, have you seen what's going on in my job this year? It is a tire fire. I want no parts of this, but I think you have to look at him as that. We talked about this at the very outside of the season. I think it was with Ben Nicholson Smith of like kind of the realistic pathways for this and all rosiest pictures led to him being in the rotation at some point in time. Now, the Blue Jays have kind of had their hand forced in terms of why he's there, but this was always part of the plan. You don't, you do not give someone who you only envision as a reliever, five years of term. And it wasn't astronomical money, but it wasn't peanuts either. They obviously see this as part of it. I will say he is probably the biggest surprise bright spot, but I don't think he's the biggest bright spot on the team. What's the biggest bright spot? It's far and away Vlad. There was still questions about what he was as a player. And this has, it hasn't answered them in the emphatic, yeah, all those guys are right. He is going to Cooper's town way, but it has answered it in the floor that I am comfortable having with this player. And I think that I think that that just matters, having as much understanding of who the best player on your team is as you're about to hand him bags and bags of money is just so much more important than, hey, we have found this good third starter, which is what I think kind of like, you know, the rosiest picture and not that he can't have outings better than that. But I think that's like likely where Rodriguez projects on a good staff. I think that that is so much more important. I don't want to diminish what Rodriguez has done. And the Vlad thing is more confirmation of what we hoped would come where Rodriguez is this unexpected thing. But I still think the Vlad is the biggest bright spot of this season, far and away. I disagree. Okay. Like Vlad is, he's having a good season. There's no question. And now everybody's sites and expectations should be calibrated to the proper extent. This is good. Right? This is, I mean, part of it is like what we thought the player was and what he proved in 2021 and coming down off of that. But the other part is like, nobody scores and nobody hits in baseball anymore. So like, having an OBS of 841, that's well done. Yes. Doesn't matter what position you play DH, well done, sir. You did it. Yeah. So the fact that he's a first baseman and it's he's only got 17 home runs and it's almost August. So what? Like that's just what the player is. Agreed. To me, I knew this was always possible. I guess it would have been really bad if he was worse or similar to what he was last year, which was a OBS plus a one 16 guy, but don't seasons not over. Okay. But that's fair. But don't take this for granted, man. We have talked about. But yet as though he is the lockest lock of locks, we did think if he was healthy and played the whole season, we would have seen him put up normal numbers. I really do. Okay. But he also like again, health is a part of the equation and he is again, I'm not discount in the injury part of it, but he has fallen off the face of the earth this season. And the idea that the one guy we were certain about and you knew what he was going to produce and he was going to be worst case scenario, top five in the American league and hits, that he has been a nothing for this team offensively this year. I think that just paints the picture of how little you can take for granted what Vlad has given you this year. And that's why I think that bright spot can't be kind of overstated in my opinion. I want to keep talking about Vlad here. But I just, my biggest bright spot has been Spencer Horowitz. Okay. So he was the, when we're looking in the like actual like unexpected bright spot case, he was the guy you have your this year's David Schneider, he just didn't do it in one series. That's the difference. Yeah. And I mean, him playing second base changes everything is just so stupid that it took this long. And he looks so good. I know. Like so very capable playing that position, it changes everything that he's no longer a first baseman where you have Vladimir Karar no junior where the offensive bar is much higher, even though he and Vlad have been similar offensive players honestly since he arrived, but that he's a part of the second base solution is a huge deal. But back to Vlad here. Yes. Okay. See, for you, it cemented something for you, for you or reopened your eyes to the possibility of him. Like where do you think the range of outcomes are with him? It's the cementing of it's the, if this wasn't the, you have to give Vlad buckets of money season. I wouldn't have looked at it as as important a thing, but I think that it's because of the crossroads you're at with the player and his window and contractually. That's what I think it is. And I think the range of outcomes we've seen go back to the conversations we were having about this guy at the beginning of the season. We couldn't hit a homer to save his life. And he was the ex-vilo king for ground balls into the dirt. Like the range of outcomes certainly existed for that. So that's the thing I, I think that's why I, there is, there was such a, there appeared to be a much lower floor than ever would have been acceptable for a guy that's going to get the contract he's going to get. Yeah. I mean, he has home runs in five of his last six games and he only has, I guess, 18 home runs, baseball reference as an updated, 18 home runs this season, which is good. It's fine. Yeah. Like he's maybe going to have 30 home runs. Maybe. I know Vlad can have an 800-ish OPS with more than 20 home runs. To me, that doesn't change anything. To me, though, I do believe, yeah, the floor is pretty established, right? And above average offensive player playing a, a, not a premium defensive position, but it doesn't matter anymore because offense is so impossible to find anywhere you can get it. You'll take it. And I do believe like if you sign Vlad up to the decade long extension this off season. Yeah. There's a realistic and not like 1% possibility, like 20, 30, 40, maybe 50% possible. That over the course of that 10-year span, you get a guy that's a top five MVP candidate in the American League. Possible. Like, I know I certainly possible. Yeah. Like when he's hot, like he is right now, again, home runs at five of his last six games. Yeah. He looks unbeatable. He looks like Aaron judge. What's happening right now in New York where their opposition realized the Yankees have two hitters. Von Soto and Aaron judge. It was very cruel of their form to me to point that out to everyone. Yeah. I agree. Oh, well, I that like Aaron judge is getting that treatment where I think you walked four times in the first game of the Mets series that they lost and lost all four games to the Mets this season. Anyways, like it, yeah, you, you understand and yesterday was an obvious circumstance to walk. Vlad blew up in the Ray's face because the Blue Jays scored four times in that inning. But yeah, when he's going like that, that's the only thing you can do is walk him. I know he's capable of those moments. If he could ever string them and he did once in 2021 and we all know the 50 weirdo circumstances of that season, but like in normal ballpark, he's also capable of that that he's he's found the power to write in center field again. Yeah. If he put that together for a whole season, I could see him absolutely having another MVP season. I, I, not that I wasn't sold on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. That's, I guess the difference is like I was sold on Vlad being an above average offensive player. He was doing something in and around the range of expected outcomes for me. But I think what changes things is if he's able to put together another 2021 type season. Yeah, totally. That would, that would definitely change things. I, I guess the difference in how we look at it is you're right, like you were more sold on it. And then I honestly think that this, I wasn't even thinking of it this way heading into the year. But now that we're here, the year that Beshed is just like quite frankly going to end up having like there's just not enough time to fix things here that the year he has had has illuminated to me. How little you can take for granted the floor that we think is always set in stone for these guys. And I, and I think Beshed is going to, I think Beshed will bounce back to your point, like the contract year of all contract years is coming next season from him. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not blind to that reality. I also just don't think you can take for granted what this is. I mean, we talk about the J's inability to score runs. What would it look like if Vlad was having the bow season this year? Yeah. Right. Well, I mean, you mentioned it as well. It's a cliche, but it's so true. Like your best ability is your availability. Here are the game totals for Vladimir Guerrero, the last three seasons before this one. 161, 160, 156, he's going to play in and around the same number of games this season. And Boboshette was doing that until last season, 159, 159 and 21 and 22, 135 last year, ending the season on the injuries list. And he's only played 79 this year. Like how many more games can you reasonably expect Bobos yet to play? Like Vladimir Guerrero Jr and boy, every time you pointed out the down offensive season last year, anybody that covered the teams would tell you, this guy's playing hurt all the time. Again, everybody is to a certain degree, but that guy has banged up and he never wants to leave the lineup. And kudos to him that he's been able to do that throughout the course of his entire major league season. That's a huge deal. Yeah. To be able to count on that guy. I don't think you can, I don't think that gets talked enough about and it's funny because baseball is such an every day sport that I almost do feel like we take that for granted and we expect guys to take days now, it's so commonplace. And for the, I think it's also, it's also just kind of funny that the J's have this log jam at DH and I mean, no one can hit on the team. So I guess it can't be a log jam. It's like a, it's like a toothpick jam because there's, there's no jam there. But Vladi, it's like, you know, him taking a day off would make the lineup decisions a little easier, but it's like he is the one guy locked in stone there and I don't say that begrudgingly. It's just funny that if, of all the guys, like you'd kill for that to be your center field or your short stop or whatever, but it's flatty at first and you got to commend him for it. You do? These is killing it right now. All right. When we come back, our next guest always kills it on radio when he joins us. It's Damien Cox, Toronto star contributor and our Leafs historian, next is the fan morning show continues. Ben Anis, Brent Gunning, Sportsnet 590, the fan. Covering the blue J's from an analytical perspective, J's talk plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download J's talk on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't understand the scoring or the rules, but I like this part of it. I like when they take a sport that I don't follow and they go, okay, quickly though, because that's what rugby sevens is. Like the game is over in like 15, 20 minutes, something like that. This is like the test cricket thing. It's like, again, I don't really understand the differences. I do. I understand T 20. Okay, man. Limited overs. Wasn't going to bring this up, but like my kid has seen so much cricket on TV that we saw girls like a softball being played and they're wearing like the face cages and he goes that not cricket pointing to their face cages because he's used to a lot of cricket on TV. Yeah, I don't know where it's just like Saturday mornings or something. It's like poking around. Do you want me to shoot you text next time I got it on? Yeah, I've never. It's never crossed my television. I'll make a point to do it. I don't do a lot of flipping though. Like I'm I the television is on. I'm watching something for an express purpose. Yeah, I like sometimes I'll put it on and like I look for sport. I'm a fan of sport. The Olympics are upon us. I'm now you think I just am big hoity toy, the American North American sports fan? No, I like all sports. Spread it out. Okay. Our next guest big fan of sport as well is Damien Cox, Toronto star contributor, Leafs historian. Oh, no, you're just gonna talk to him in just a second. Yeah, we have something we have to stop now that was too good of a that was too good of a segue. It was too good. All right. How do you feel about the hoity toy nature of just in general calling it sport? I feel like that's just European. I don't know. It's pretty tidy. I hardly agree. It's like that feels like somebody from Norway is like, ah, yes, sport. So we're going to get into a Tizzy about the Northern Star Award. I thought there would be more of a Tizzy about the flagbearers for the opening ceremonies. Yeah. You know what was shocking to me was to find out that Andre de Grass had never been one at an opening or closing ceremonies. He is one medal away from being our all time, most decorated Olympic athlete that only didn't surprise me because generally speaking, the like more of a superstar athlete you are, the less of the games you're kind of at. You kind of do your event, you get in and you get out and I think that has been the case in the past. Now, sprinting's at the end. So I don't really see why he couldn't have done a closing ceremony. But yeah, I mean, I was saying that was my choice leading into it. So good job. You agreed with me there for you. Right. You know, Mo Chiron are going to be carrying the flag for Canada floating down the Senn River tomorrow. All right. Now we have Damien Cox on the line, Toronto Star contributor and Leafs historian, executive director of the Northern Star Award Committee. How's it going, Damien? Well, I'm not in the Tizzy. Is that the word of the day? Tizzy? Yeah. I heard you're using the word. I wasn't a Tizzy. It's hard to be in a Tizzy at 7.30 in the morning also. But go ahead. Oh, no, no, no, no. I've been in a Tizzy much earlier in the day than before, you know, I mean, but that's I was in a Tizzy earlier this summer. Really? You want to expand? Yeah. Yeah. I do. I have a story to tell you. Okay. It's it's quite a story. It's a story of of of espionage of intrigue. Oh, you flew a drone for a Canada soccer? I had a drone. I broke it. I flew up into a tree and I broke it. I never picked my son right now. Just fly. These are the things that we did during COVID. All the stuff we did. I bought my kids a drone, too. It's like that that'll be a movie. I know what you did during COVID. Anyways. Go on. No, it was a couple of weeks ago. I woke up, you know, you know, did my usual 25 K run in the morning and got back for my 500 push-ups. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, that was. Yeah. Anyway, and then I look at my phone. Oh, I know where this is going because I was just told that in the morning. In the morning. And I'm going. I'm going. Who's calling me? And it was from one o'clock in the morning. And so that was just several hours ago. So I'm like, who's calling me? You know, nobody calls me anymore. The appeal you used to call all the time. I remember once Mike Keenan called me at three o'clock in the morning because no one calls any angry guys out at a certain point. Nobody calls. Anyway, so there's this call there and I look because, you know, you think it's not just a number. It's a name. Mm hmm. I'm initially shocked at the name because the name says Brent Gunning. Yes. I'm going. I don't even know if I've met Brent Gunning in person. Never have. Never have. He's got my phone number. I mean, I would say to my and then I'm. Did you offer on that? I'm perplexed and confused. And then I realized what this is after, after, you know, thinking about it and hoping and imagining it for a long time. This is the call that I've been waiting for our chance to launch a coup against Brent Bananas, take over the morning show, put it back in his rightful hand. You can have it except except this time we'll exclude gourd's Delic. It's going to be that it's going to be the Cox and Gunning show or the other way or it could. Well, that's negotiable. Okay. Sure. You know, you know, we'll go back and forth on that one. And then so so then I excitedly I access the message. What's the message? This is going to be so good. Because he's got it all figured out because I, you know, I never met him in person, but I know, I know he's a smart guy. I know he's thought all the ins and outs of this little thing. So I play my messages back. Oh, God. And I can't play it for you, but I can do a pretty good imitation of you. Okay. It was something like this. Yeah, and I realized pretty quickly it wasn't at all what I hope for. It was a. But call it was one o'clock in the morning, which thankfully is different than a booty call because you don't know what I've got a whole other set of questions for me. But this was just a bug call. And so deflated, I went back and finished my 500 push up and went on with my day. So I was, I was briefly in a, in a tizzy. I will say I didn't think you would have had my like, I don't even know how it works, but I wouldn't have thought you had the contact to know it was me or I definitely would have sent a follow up text of my bad demo. But you know, it's funny that I pocket dialed you because I was just, I was on a, I was on a little golf trip, I was with some buddies, you know, discussing the Northern Star award and just again, like, I'll let it be known, again, I'll let it, I will let it be known that if there is a coup to happen, like in all things in life, it's a negotiation and like I'd love to coo with you. But the only way I can coo with you is if I am on the Northern Star Committee, like, I like, you are more than welcome. And I can't find the word either right now by, yeah, I'm not even going to try it. But you guys can have it. Yeah. Anyways, you can have it. It's all yours. Now, it would definitely be a bloodless coup, like we, yeah, it would just be, no, I would, I would, I would, I would do the morning show is great. It's just that the part of it getting up in the morning. Right. That's the tough part for me. Yeah, that's the deal. That's the deal breaker. It's actually the only reason I'm here is that I'm good at getting up in the morning. Well, that's actually about 50% of it. It's the only acceptable time to drive on the gardener, honestly, is at quarter to five in the morning. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways. So anyways, how are you guys? Sorry about that, Damo. All right, well, I mean, because you are the executive director of the Northern Star Award Committee. Among other things. Yeah, including our Leafs historian, and I think it's butt dialed. So this is, I imagine these two weeks, someone will emerge as our Northern Star Award winner. I think it might be hard for a women's soccer player, though, to be honest, has they been eliminated now with their horrible drone scandal. You know, you know, there's a lot of elements to this whole thing. And like, it's just one of those things where you go, that's how we cheat. We can't cheat better than that. We have to go like, if we're going to cheat, let's cheat, let's get out there. Let's do what the Chinese are doing, right? Let's get all our swimmers doped up, and then we cover it all up, and then we fight any and every effort to investigate what we're doing. And we go ahead, like, we go big, full scale, nana. We send up a little drone, and we go over the New Zealand practice, and we get information sort of. And we get, basically he got a speeding ticket, got sent home. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Canada's effort to cheat at the 2024 Olympics. Yeah, it was kind of, it is interesting that the head coach, that priest, when it's kind of escaping any and all responsibility for this. I mean, she's the Bill Belichick in this whole thing, right? In this spigate Paris scenario, but she's just sort of going, how about if I don't coach for a game? Yeah. And the rest of us are going, will we notice? You know, such as the Olympics, and that's what they're, that's the start we're off to. Yeah, I was saying this would be much more fun if this was the winter games. And then we could just say, all right, that's it. We're the big, bad Canadians. We're coming for you. We have as much a chance. Well, maybe not as much, but a decent chance to be right there atop the medal standings. In the summer games, it feels a little different where we just immediately get into like apology mode about this, but I could see a world where this would have taken on a different tenor in a winter games demo. Yeah, and it's funny, you know, because we know that these games will be, if not for Canada, for a big chunk of this will be about cheating. I mean, that is the Olympic credo, right? Yeah. I mean, this is the most hypocritical sporting gathering there is on the planet. They do it every four years or two years or depends what, you know, on COVID or whatever. And, you know, and I just finished Mary Armsby's excellent book on Ben Johnson recounting the 1988 scandal and understanding all the details, all everything we now know about how that entire thing unfolded. And, you know, not a whole lot has changed with the IOC, not really. I mean, they, you know, they say it has, but not really. So that'll be a story, as it always is at these games. And I guess as Canadians, we hope that we're going to have a lot more positive stories. But you know, you mentioned the Northern Star Award, and I think these Olympics in terms of that award are a little different in that there's already a standard that an athlete is going to have to surpass, and I think that's the standard set by Conor McDavid, both in the NHL regular season and in the playoffs and in getting the Oilers to game seven, you know, what a sensational, incredible year for a guy who's never won the award, which is kind of amazing in and of itself. So to my mind, going into this whole thing, someone, some Olympian, if, and it often is an Olympic, not always, but often is an Olympian in a year like this, is going to have to do one better than Conor McDavid. And it's possible, you know, if you mentioned Andre de Grosse, it could be him. It could be, you know, Summer McIntosh. My pick. Summer McIntosh, absolutely. You know, it could be any number of Shea Gilgos, you know, I mean, it could be anybody, but that's kind of the standard that I think is going to have to be met and surpassed for someone else to win that award this year. Kind of feels like you're tipping your hand that Conor McDavid could be a legacy award. I mean, not that he didn't have an incredible season, but yeah, kind of nuts that he hasn't won one and but it is tough, though, because these Olympians, well, every two years, right? For the summer athletes every every four years that this is usually the time where they take center stage when it comes to that award, but yeah, at a certain point, Conor McDavid can't go his whole career without winning the Northern Star Award. What would it take? Would it would have to be like multiple gold medals, I guess, from Summer McIntosh? Yeah, I mean, and I sort of don't necessarily buy the Olympic, you know, this is only their chance. I mean, because professionals are now in the Olympics and, you know, I mean, everybody's a professional and the world championships are not the same. Like we just don't pay attention in the subsequent three years. No, but I mean, and that's the tough job that we have on the committee that, you know, we have to try to look past sometimes or do our best, say, you know, what people are quote paying attention to and what athletes are actually achieving in their specific discipline or sport. So, you know, and that's often a big challenge, but, you know, athletes are recognized for a whole pile of different things. So, look, I don't think I'm tipping my hand because I'm pretty sure it's not news that Conor McDavid's going to be seriously considered for the Northern Star Award. I mean, what an incredible year. But it kind of shows you, like, I mean, we have a country of great athletes and spectacular performance. SGA just had another incredible year in the NBA and he's going to be in the spotlight with the men's basketball team, the women's basketball team. But you know, I think summer Macintosh would certainly be one to watch because the opportunity is there for more than one medal. And if you start racking up more than one medal or a gold medal, then all of a sudden that really starts to catch people's attention. And the pool is something, you know, we can get our heads around. Some of these other sports, I know you guys will be tuned in to the breaking when it starts. Yeah. I don't even know what that is, but I'm going to be open-minded about this. It was alerted to me that one of our flagbearers at the Pan Am closing ceremonies was a break dancer. Like apparently we're good. They call him. Really? Yeah, the wizard. Thought that was Ray Whitney. This would happen during my days, you know, during the Saturday night fever days, then that would have been an Olympic sport, right? Oh, disco. Yeah. You missed your chance? Yes. Yes. I had the high heel full to that another day. Well, I mean, yeah. Well, they were my brother's shoes and they were too small, so they were really painful aware, but I wore them anyways. Yeah, but no, I think she's probably the one to watch going in, but I don't know, are you guys pumped? Are you going to watch every minute of it or where are you guys in this whole thing? It's classical Olympics. For me, there's the events I'm super excited for, like, hey, let me know when the 100 meter final is. I just love I 100, but I do love having it on all the time. And I find myself, I'd say this all the time, like, I don't care so much. And then I find myself getting sucked into something I don't know. I'd love to sit here and tell you what it's going to be. I saw there was something that's like basically like contact kayak racing this year. I'm doing that. I like to see that. Like the snowboard cross, except it's kayak, it's kayak cross. In. That sounds great. Let me watch that. I have no idea. Did you know that the surfing competition is in Tahiti? The French colony of Tahiti, yeah, the surfing is in Tahiti. I'm interested to see that. That sounds nice. And so I thought it was going to be in Sam Pierre Michelon, but I guess too cold this time of year. I don't know. I don't know. It feels not possible. But at least they don't look at us as a colony anymore. So, you know, I think that people are exactly like you. And often it's a time of year where people have a bit more time than at the cottage. That's where I was when Ben Johnson won in 88, you know, you're at the cottage with friends and you're watching and all that sort of stuff. And it's also so much more accessible now. You don't even have to be in front of a TV. You can literally watch it on your phone as you're hopefully not as you're driving, but you can watch it on your phone. So people are going to get excited about it. That's for sure. Yeah. I'm excited for it. I'm excited to hear the conversation, the debate as to why that person is better than Conor McDavid when it comes to the Northern Star award later on this year. And I look forward to being a part of it. Thanks for the invite. God. I think there's a real lack of communication between me and your co-host there, Ben. I'm not sure he's getting the message I'm trying to deliver here this morning. I'm trying to do it in a subtle kind of statesman-like kind of way, which has ever been my strength. No. Oh, yeah. And I'm being proven, which is my strength. Yeah. So like, we'll keep working on it, David. Yeah, he's not. That's a good word. David. He's not going to be dissuaded. Damien, always a pleasure. Thank you. Boys, stay out of a tizzy today. Just be cool. Relax. And we'll talk soon. I'll give you a call. Like, I know, one, one o'clock. Don't ever, ever come in again. You got it, buddy. See you, man. See you, guys. Damien Cox, Toronto Star contributor, leaves the story and executive director of the Northern Star award committee and recipient of Brent Gunning butt calls at one o'clock. Not a booty call. Great distinction from him. I just pulled up a map, like, do you know how far Tahiti is from France? Really far. Like, obviously. Like, not even close. I figured, I don't know, like, you know, there's oceans, there's nice islands out there. You know, you didn't think about it. What did you think, I thought, that it was like somewhere anywhere close to, well, I mean, France, I opened a map and I figured, like, you know, it wasn't going to be near New Zealand. Like, if I had my druthers of oceans, I was going to guess I wouldn't have thought way down there. You should open an atlas. No, why? I needed to know. I looked it up. Now I'm informed. I'm good. What do you, like, the last time I thought about Tahiti was when I had, like, a Tahiti treat or something. Oh, my God. What a pop, eh? Yeah. What? No, no, no, I know. Honestly, I'm, because, and maybe this is because I'm married to an American and I've spent so much time, I moved off calling it pop now with soda for me, but I just don't call it a Coke. Like, yeah, that's insane. The people of Atlanta, Georgia, that do that. Yeah. They're like, Oh, I'll take a Coke. Dr. Pepper. Yeah. No, it's. I'm sorry. What? Before we went to the cottage, I had to load up because the LCBO was going on strike. Yeah. You better believe some of that horde was the alcoholic Tahiti treats. Oh, yeah. I have seen those. I have seen those. You can't. One is enough. I was just going to say it's like, God, diabetes is calling for you. Oh, yeah. For, like, one, one. Yeah. Maybe to start your day. Yeah. And then if you have another, it's just like, just like, goal by some insulin, right? Yeah. Just like play it safe or don't hoard it. I feel like that's probably bad, but like be ready to buy it. Oh, my God. Yeah. It's all clarified. Yeah. I just clarified. It's fine. Well, do you think I'm getting on the Northern Star Committee? Probably not. Yeah, no. I mean, I don't think what you're doing with Damien is hurting your chances. Well, and to pull back the curtain, us getting handed those drivers at the Joe Carter Classic has only emboldened me. Like you guys always like, you're crazy. You do it, and then we all walked out of there with drivers. So it will be mine one day. Well done. All right. Let's take a break. But before we do that, let's do the Wakenrake, which is presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly. Jay's Ray is a little afternoon baseball action for your pleasure after three o'clock on sports and a five down to the fan and sports and a Taj Bradley against Chris Bassett. And it has the blue Jay's and Ray's pretty much a coin flip. All of the Ray's slightly favored minus 120 blue Jay's plus a hundred. The total is eight in this one, Brent under I've been doing it all series long. You know, I know there was some offense yesterday under under under Bassett on the bump going to have a bounce back. Bass can hit either, Jay's kind of can't hit still. So yeah, give me the under minus 115. Yeah, I liked the under in the first game. I liked the over yesterday, which ended up hitting. This is a low total. And you're right. These are two of the lowest scoring teams in all of baseball. They're also two of the teams that have given up the most home runs in all of baseball. Eight is sad. I can only get them against each other. Yeah. Oh, low total. I mean, but Taj Bradley, it's been so good. Yeah. I kind of I like the Rays minus a runner and a half at plus 140. Mm. In this baseball game. And that was the wake and rake presented by sports interaction, your homegrown sports book 19 plus bet responsibly. When we come back, Dr. Adnan Burke of MLB Network as the fan morning show continues. Ben Ann is Brent Gunning Sports at 590 the fan. [MUSIC]
