[MUSIC] With especially what he's done the last month and a half, it's absolutely incredible. He is on a terror night, I tell him that all the time, and I was glad I had a moment with him the other day. And I said, I would come and pay the watch he played when you have this demeanor, this attitude showing up. And he just hit a different gear and you know it's always, you know, he has to live up to so much expectations like last year. I know people give him a lot of grief. I think he hit like two 78, probably higher than that. 24 homers and 96 RBI's and that's a down year for Blattie. It is absolutely incredible and Blattie is the best player in the big leagues right now. He is so locked in, hits everything, hardest can be the other night, three doubles, a homer in the second game in that double header. He is all sorts of locked in right now and a phenomenal human being. I love him. So if I was GM I'd be paying the man. He's going to be incredible for years to come. He just has it. Obviously I know I'm staying the obvious but he is on a different planet right now. Fan morning, Joe Benan and Sam McKee, that was Kevin Kearmeyer on Blair and Barker yesterday. Love that. Like in sports, it's the only place we call people great human beings. Yeah. Great. You have to differentiate. It's like, oh, they're the sports side but as a human being, what a human being. I mean, there's a little bit of a track record of not so great human beings in sports. So it feels like you maybe have to have to lay that out there. That's a good point. Thank you. A lot of things Kevin Kearmeyer did not mention. By the way, I really like Kevin Kearmeyer though and I really hate to root for the Dodgers but I would like to see him get a ranked end his career. That'd be cool. Yeah. I was kind of, that was going to be one of the things that I was most looking forward to the end of this Bluejay season is how his final year send off was going to look and how the Bluejay's would handle that and they have a late season series against the Rays and maybe that being the moment but instead it gets to happen in Los Angeles and maybe there's a postseason spot for him. Honestly, he fills a role even if he's not hitting. For sure. Because he's still got the speed. He's still got the defense of defense. Yeah. He's ridiculous. I wonder if he gets rejuvenated if he reconsiders. I mean, he'll go there and he'll start hitting for power for some reason, like Jason Hayward was gone. Yeah. And then he goes there and he's all of a sudden great. I mean, he's not the same player that Jason Hayward is, but you know what I mean? Yeah. I think they have a way except with Kevin Beach. What does he have in Beach? He opened to us. No, he's turned it. He started off very slowly and he's kind of reverted to what he was before he was DFA by the Blue Jays. Um, but yeah, uh, Kevin Cameron was only 34. Now he's had the physical ailments and he had the hip surgery, but I could see a world where he is rejuvenated in part-time form, for without field or defensive replacement stuff. And he says, you know what? If there's a major league offer out there for me in 2025, I'm not retiring. Yeah. No one would fault him for that. Anyways, one of the things that he didn't mention about Vladimir Guerrero Jr, which I feel like needs to be reminded of two people, okay, he plays every day. Yeah. It's, it's a joke how often Vladimir Guerrero Jr. plays. So made his debut in 2019, played 123 games and then in the weirdo 60 game season, he played all 60 despite being out of shape by his own admission, right? Played all 60 games that year, 161, 160, 156 last year and, and I was one of the many and how could you not, considering what he's capable of, the thought, the 788 OBS he put forth and, you know, Kevin Kiermer almost rattling off every single number. Yeah. He had memorized. He had 26 home runs and 94 RBIs, but it hit 264. Anyways, 788 OBS is disappointing season, but it seems pretty clear that what people were talking about is, is the reality that, yeah, he played every day and if he hadn't, if he had given himself some time to recover from some of the physical ailments that he was dealing with last year, numbers would have looked differently. Yeah. Well, I mean, proof is in the pudding because he's played 108 games this season and he's got a 906 OBS. It used to be the case for Boba Shet, like he started to season his career very, very healthy and, and able to post. Yeah. Last couple of years, not so much the case, hate, hate the calves, calves are bad, soft tissue injuries, it's not what you want. Yeah. I hate the calves. Yeah. I mean, it's different if you know you're going to be in the playoffs and you know the player is going to be healthy for the most crucial point in the season. You obviously take the higher upside if you're that type of team, but if you're battling to get into the playoffs, man, to have a guy that is going to play a 150, 160 games for you. Yeah. Even if it's at first base, it doesn't matter. Like that, that is an underrated part of Vladimir Guerrero Jr's career. No, I love that that you brought that up. It's true. Durability for me with every baseball player is one of the most that's it's something that I admire the most with these guys and things that I love. Like think about pitchers that, you know, even though he was one of the biggest lightning rods in the city, like already Dickey, yeah, took the ball pitched every five days. Yeah. You never like you think of some of your favorite pitchers burly all the time, like I just took the ball pitched. You're out there all the time. I guess it's a little bit different for pitchers. But I just I find position players that just go out there and play like Vlad does. And that's a super valuable skill and a super valuable ability. And that's why I think the con the contract situation is a fascinating one and where it's like you just got to pay them the big bucks, right? Yeah. So you just got to give them the monster contract. And I'm sure the Vlad can't be like, Hey, look at the numbers of games that I've played. I play every day. And that's a huge thing for this team, especially when you're rebuilding and need the reason to go to the park that Vlad's going to be in the lineup every single day. Yeah. I mean, first baseman don't get paid 300 plus million. I know that's what Bryce Harper got. But when he signed that deal, he was not a first baseman. And plus the annual average value was under 30 million for for Bryce Harper. But yeah, what Vlad is the age that he's at, I think you're looking at something in and around that neighborhood. I mean, he's going to have to wait for Peter Lonzo to sign. He's going to have to wait for Juan Soto to sign. I did this is clearly like the numbers are going to become more obvious for Vlad this offseason. Just pay him. Like I like all these contracts suck like immediately when they're signed, they never really look great. Right. It's just that's the deal. That's the price of doing business. And plus you can do two things. He's only 25. He's going to be 26. Yeah. Like even if you do what could be, if not a hard rebuild, like a soft rebuild after 2025, he's still going to be in the middle of his prime on the other side of that thing. I just I hate the thought of the year you're looking to compete next year and we all say, Oh, maybe they can compete next year. But the thought of trading Vlad in the offseason and just like trying to sell people to go down to the park to have a hundred loss team on the on the field that stinks and it's like you're in this full rebuild. I think Vlad sort of represents that you're still trying to stay relevant and like signing him and just you need baseball players in your baseball team and he's a very good baseball player and you might as well just keep him around for the long term bow. I would like to keep bow around for the long term too, but feels like every single thing that he said within the last, you know, six months kind of feels like he doesn't want to be here anymore. So who knows? But I think they have to do their best to keep glad he around here long term rest of his career kind of thing. I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment thing because he's just do it. Be a prisoner. Well, because last season and I'm sure when we talked about an advert, we'll reminisce about the many conversations we had in comparing Vlad and Bo and who would you rather sign up for long term because it seems unlikely that both of them and it was like an obvious one that you take the guy that plays the premium position and is a lock is but had the more consistent career because when Bobi shed was healthy outside of this season, it leads the league and hits. He's the best hitter in the American League with some power and again, like he's nobody's Hamilton Simmons, but he was capable of playing the most premium, full credit, he really improved. Yeah, the most premium defensive position outside of center field, capably that that was the guy that you'd rather hand the bag to then the guy who plays first base and he's like, okay, he's got like a 780 to 800 ish, OPS playing the least premium defensive position. But it's amazing. Like, again, what the difference a year can make and part of it is the comments you're right. Like every time he's asked, he's like, and all the reporting from Bob Nightingale about him telling his friends that he would welcome a trade out in Toronto. How about the interview in San Francisco where he put his hand on his heart and was like, oh, they love to win here. I didn't even notice the like, the hand on the heart. Oh, he really was like, oh, this beat treats our players great and they love, and it was like, oh, he was just asked out of context. Like give me a break. But no, I, I still would have the conversation about Bo, like both really good. And I'm not stuck. He said an awful year, bad start, God hurt. I'm not really all the way out on Bo, it's just more the comments that he said and just sort of the perception around him has changed. Vlad, he seems to want to be here. He's probably should just keep him. Yeah. Like I said earlier, when, when on a previous show, when some of the Bo stuff came out, if his reasoning for wanting out of Toronto, if in fact, he does want out of Toronto is just because this team stinks and he'd rather be on a good team that I can understand that. Totally fair. And beyond that, that he has a problem with the way he's been treated in Toronto. They fired the manager. He hated. Yeah. They kept him at the position. He's not capable of playing second base. Yeah. They handed him everything. But yeah, it's going to be an interesting off season in Toronto. All right. Time now for 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.com, today's insider, Dan Burke of MLB network and the cinephile podcast. And as we all just endured the trade deadline, I was talking to Dan O'Dowd, former Rockies GM, of course, my response to something Dontibid, you know, but I swear it's pertinent because he had Dontibishept for all those years in the Rockies and therefore has a real strong connection to Boboshept. I said to Dan, I said, if you were running the J's and Paul hadn't had been hurt, which you're treated him. And he said, no. And I said, really? And exactly what you guys were saying. I said, he's had a bad year. He's been hurt. Doesn't seem to want to be there. He said, yeah, but he said, these kind of trades are tough to pull off mid-season. So he's like, if he gets dealt, he'll be in the off-season, but it's fairly straightforward. It's going to happen. He said they're going to pick which one of the two they're going to sign because he can't sign both. And they're plugging to trade the other guy. So I think your guys logic is correct. You guys want to stay, we'll keep bloody that and he's had a month or season, so he deserves the reward. And as for both, we'll see what the suitors are like. Well, I mean, the off-season bow trade, he's still going to be going, like, I don't know. Is he going to play again this year? Yeah. I mean, there was, there's still two months left to go in the season. You would think he's going to play with the calf injury at some point. If he, I mean, so if he plays, maybe he plays better and brings his value back up. But is there a world where you go into next season with him on the team, see how you're doing in the standings, and then if he's playing, if he's really hot to start the year, then you sort of pounce on it when his value is at a high as opposed to where it is right now. But what if you're good? Like, what if you're trying to compete? You can't trade away your, your good offensive, premium shortstop in the middle of the season. Good players on bad teams and baseball. It happens all the time. Like he can be playing great and the J's could stink. I mean, you look at their roster right now, it's a dangerous game, you're right. So they're probably traded in the off-season, but I just, I feel like if you let them have a hot start to the year, then you maybe jump on at them. But no, you guys are right. I love how Sam, yeah, I love how Sam talked himself into without me saying a word. That was great. Well, Ben was looking at me like I said, it was sick to don't let me talk you out of it. Anyways, but yeah. I just hate the thought of trading both his options and after him being having the worst season of his career and then, you know, selling low on one of your franchise cornerstones that you wanted to be around forever. It's a terrifying thought. Well, okay. You mentioned Dan O'Dowd, your conversation with him, Adnan. I saw Jim Bowden earlier this season. I guess Bow was still playing, but playing very poorly and he had been banged up and on the I.L. already once, but he said, hey, the value is still out there. Like teams still perceive him as the same dude. Is that the sense you get, Adnan? Even like, say Bow doesn't play another game this year. How diminished a return are the Blue J's looking in trade for him this off-season? No, I'm with Jim Bow. I think it's still a solid return. You know, what do you think his agents are going to say to the J's? If the J's want to engage in conversations in a conscious extent, they're going to say, hey, it happens one bad year. He wasn't a healthy period. If he had been healthy, he would have been successful, but, you know, he was never 100 percent. He tried to play through it. Got hurt again. Blah, blah, blah. So let's look at the total body of work. And that's exactly what the J's will say to prospective suitors. And I think most teams would look at that and go, yeah, you know, we're so starved for offense right now. Like, it's amazing having endured that trade deadline and saying, okay, the, you know, the biggest position player traded was Randy Arosarina, who has like 100 OPS+ to see like he's a league average player. I get that he's had obviously memorable moments in the playoffs, but like, this is where we are, like league average OPS is 700. So if you're telling me Boba Shet's available, a guy who has led the league and hits, who's a prospective batting champion, I mean, trust me, teams are still going to line up and they're going to go up a lot together. So just talking about a guy that may actually make that trade or may not make that trade with Ross Atkins in the off-season here. How do you weigh a guy seemingly having an excellent deadline by all accounts because of the position he put the team in in the off-season? How do you weigh those two things because I've been having a tough time with it, Adam. No, I'm with you, Sam. I think, listen, I'm clearly with you. I think he did a great job, Ross Atkins, because the fact he had a clear mandate that he put together wasn't very good. So go ahead and deal everybody on expiring contracts. And certainly, I think everyone was talking with the return for you, Stakey Koochi. I mean, this guy's got a 4-7-5 ERA and you've got three prospects, two of Houston's, top 20 prospects. So again, the underlying sort of my colleagues to the other, the prospects are like suspect that I hear you. You don't ever know what's going to happen with these guys. But pretty good all for, you know, you, St. Koochi, and I know he's in a good season. I know he's a lefty, blah, blah, blah, but I'm like, wasn't expecting that. I think that impact at the rest of the trade market because all of a sudden, it tigers with Derek Scubill or the White Sox and Garrett Crochet saw what the J's were able to get like, "Oh, yeah, we're going to need a lot more than that," and he's got skittances that we're going to punch. But specific to Atkins, I'm like, "You're absolutely right. I mean, if the team had been better, if they wouldn't have been in the situation, we'd not have been selling the order of hopefully buying and acquiring assets." But it's pretty clear what the team's mandate is, which is that, "Hey, three of the last four years, you know, we're a playoff team. This is just a bad case that happens." But we still believe we're right in this thing with some tinkering this offseason season, we can get back to being a playoff team. And, you know, maybe it's a thought that the fan base could be fake, or maybe the fact that it put half a billion dollars in the renovations in the Rogers Center and it's free training. Like, you can't all of a sudden just tell your fan base, "Hey, sorry, guys, we're going to have to stink for three years, and then we're going to get back at it." Like, I just, I can't imagine the group just doing that, considering that market, considering the size of the team, et cetera, blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, I think Ross Atkins did a good job, but it was his fault, we were in this situation. And here's the biggest thing, fellas, to go back to Bo. I really think, imagine if a team had knocked their socks off, would you want a guy who may not have a job with you in two months making a decision which could be franchise altering? Yeah. Let's think about that. Like, Ben Anis is on his way out the door. Ben's probably not going to be renewed. But then, before you go, I'd like you to make a massive decision that will impact the station for years to come. I would never do that in a million years. Yeah. Like, host the trade deadline show, "We're going to fire you tomorrow." Yeah. It's not going to happen. It's just not going to happen. But now, okay, so he didn't make one of those big moves, and he was in the chair for the sell off, and he got a good return. But it was kind of an obvious thing to do, and maybe kind of, he gets credit because he was there. But it was, you know, you hear from executives like, yeah, selling off assets is like one of the easier things that you can do. And it's clear. You tell people, "We got a deadline, give me your best offer, and you choose the best one." And then you push, except on your trade machine. Now that that's over, it's interesting, because Marc Shapiro has this media availability August 7th, and Marc Shapiro also only has one more year left on his deal. I mean, is it, you don't, you rarely see executives fired mid-season no matter what the sport, but now that like, the draft is beyond us. The deadline's beyond us. I guess it, is it at all possible that Marc Shapiro and Ross Atkins is walking papers this month? I don't see it happening. Only because it's so rare to see. I mean, I'm hard-pressed to think up, stop my head, that's how I saw a baseball general manager fired like after the trade deadline. I just think, even if you're going to make that move, for some reason, there's a thought process that, well, the J's aren't going anywhere, so let's just let this season play out, give some of these younger players a chance to shine, and then we'll make our decision the offseason. But the rebuttal of that, of course, is, well, if you know, Atkins isn't going to be the guy, why wouldn't you just get a head start on things? Like, in the corporate world, if you knew you were going to get rid of a guy, why wouldn't you just get a two-month notice and go out? Now, obviously, I'm going to pay you, I'm going to give you your contract, but yeah, we're going to have to go in a different direction, so only because bet it never happens, I don't see it happening. But deep in my heart, if you tell me, well, Ross Atkins, will you be the GM next season? No, I don't. Yeah, I don't think so either. I mean, it's been nearly a decade. They've already torn this team down once. They've fired a couple of managers. It's hard to imagine that, yeah, that's viewed positively. All right, let's look elsewhere in the American League, in the American League. So the Yankees and the Orioles are the class, obviously, of that division. They made moves. And boy, the jazz chism one seems like more impactful than maybe even Yankee fans realize. But there were other moves out there that weren't made and there weren't, I don't think you can qualify any of the trades as like all in moves, especially for a Yankees team that, okay, sure, they're going to do their darnedest and probably are definitely the favorites to land Juan Soto, but there's some uncertainty there. Like, who knows how long this thing could last? Clay Holmes leads the major leagues of baseball with eight blown saves. He's their closer. Like did the Yankees and Orioles do enough to push in for a season in which they can win a World Series? Well, we'll get to the Yankees in a second. I definitely been thinking the Orioles did not do enough. This is now the second straight year that you've seen Michaelized and Sigma Zoltz and we got this great team here. What are we going to do? We got all these prospects and if they don't really pull the trigger on any major moves, you know, I know they dealt Connor Norby, who is one of their top prospects and got Trevor Rogers in the Marlins. Okay. He'll help the starting staff. But again, he's not exactly Derek Schilb, well, Gary Christian Blake's now the top three guys that we believe were available if indeed the price was right. And that's where I'm like, listen, you could have gotten Mason Miller, you know, from the A's if you're willing to part with Jackson Holiday or, again, one of these top prospects like, you know, Mayo as well. But, you know, ultimately, I think for Baltimore, they're like, well, get Rogers, he'll supplement the rotation. He'll probably be a number three starter behind Corbin Barnes and Brace Rodriguez to me. That's barely uninspiring. For the Yankees, they at least did more and jazz is an impact player, but there's no question about it. Now, you know, the criticism could be entirely warranted. He's more styled and substance rights on the cover that will be the show and if you look at his OPS plus, he's around a league average, but I think it's around one 10. But there's no doubt with jazz, at least he's giving you intangibles along with tangibles. He's very versatile. He can play everywhere. He saw the fact they had a black hole there, a third base, indeed. He was made. I mean, he was absolutely dreadful. He has like a 36 OPS plus unplayable, right? Two more years he's playing. No problem. Jazz never play third base in his life. I'll play third. Great. Labor tours isn't very good defense. You can't put him at third. Stick him at second. And your outfit is actually pretty solid. He comes in, as you said, back to back to run home run games, I think that was great. And Mark Ledder, Jr., I think, is a really good weapon of the bullpen. You know, prior to that trade, he had seven appearances, seven straight scoreless appearances, 14 cases without federal help, but you're absolutely right, Ben, to mention the concern about homes. I watched a lot of that Yankees redstock series, and I got to my buddies here in Boney and Cora going head-to-head. And when Clay Holmes gave it up, I was like, oh, my God, I'm like, here we go again. Like, you can't trust this guy. And for the Orioles, they have Craig Kimball closing. And nobody trusts him in a big situation. So I'm with you. I think both of those guys, teams have concerns that closer, but I think the Yankees have a slight edge. Like for most of the year, it's been neck and neck. These are fair, but I like the addition to jazz and lighter over Rogers for me as far as giving the Yankees a slight edge. But they kind of regained their mojo, man. That was a big series against the redstock. They were down there last strike on Saturday night. And Grisham hits that huge hit, and they win 11, 8, 3 hours, 38 minute game, more of a classic Yankee red stocks game. They then win Sunday night easily. They filly. I went to that game Monday, and Philly took my kid. Judge goes deep twice. They had six home runs, bludgeon Zach Wheeler won 14 and 4. They sweep the best team in baseball in the Phillies like Yankees yellow mojo now. Now they won five straight. Yeah, that Yankees Red Sox series, I was highly anticipating it. And the first two games were just, they were electric. They were so, so good. Aaron judges. I mean, this, this season as well, like you, you, you thought, hey, how could it be better than hitting 62 home runs in a CZs on like the same pace, and it's, it's ridiculous. What Aaron judge is doing this season with an OBS of 1136. All right. Before we let you go and superhero movies are back, I guess. I don't know. God. Well, Wolverine, like what is crossed a half a billion dollars already. It's gotten good reviews. I haven't seen it. I imagine you have. Okay. Is this, is this good news for movies as a whole that it's making a bunch of money. People are showing up or, or bad because superhero movies are back. Yeah. Surprisingly, I haven't had to see it yet. I'm going to go see it this weekend more than likely and I'll view it next to my podcast in a file. But I'm with you, man. To me, it's half measures. I like the fact that people are going to the movies. It's always good news. Twisters is expected to gross 50 million, blew it off the doors, 80 million, which just just proves how star people were this summer to see anything. It really hasn't been many big blockbusters aside from kids movies. Guys are killing me. Same inside out too. And you know, just pick them with me forward. Now, for Deadpool, Wolverine, I was astounded when I said $205 million opening, like, oh, my God, like that's the highest rated opening ever for our rated movie. And as you said, hurtling towards half a billion, but I think ultimately it's bad news. I think when you say, exactly what you said, when the only movies that are generating interest or superhero movies or kids movies, I'm like, it just shows the lack of creativity and risk in Hollywood. That's why a year ago was so much fun because Oppenheimer was an original film about a nuclear physicist, for God's sake, like, how is this movie making $940 million? And it's about a toy Barbie, like, say what you will, it's based on an original, you know, previous content, but it was still an original movie, like somebody that's dipped there and go, okay, Barbie, Ken, Ryan Gosling, Marga Robbie, like, how did a girl put this thing together? Those are original films. These are not original films. And I enjoy the first Deadpool, I thought it was a rapper, I thought it was funny, of course, environmental, it's all a Canadian break guy. But the second Deadpool, I'm like, okay, I got it. Like, he's still a Reverend. He's still swearing. He's still ugly. So whatever. Yeah. Deadpool, Wolverine, I go, all right, I'm pretty sure this game like this dance is to be honest. I'm not clamoring to see it. My brother was text me. Oh, my God. I can't wait. I'm like, superhero fatigue and sequel fatigue for me. Yeah. I will see it this week. And you're right. It's gotten good reviews. I'm so happy that you hate superhero movies. I can't believe how many there are. It's like, hey, you want to go see a movie? It's like, what's in the theater? Superhero movies. Every single version of every single is like, when I was like, Ant-Man, I don't think I need to see an Ant-Man movie, like, good Lord. Well, get ready to see a sequel to this thing. Like, there's no way Hollywood is turning aside another billion dollars that they can run this thing back. I thought Wolverine was dead too. And that's to spoil Logan for people. Actually, Logan was the only one I ever liked. I liked Logan. That was a really good movie. He nailed it. He nailed it. I was about to be the only superhero movie I liked was Logan because it fell like an ant-hero movie. And he actually died if he had something that was like the Unforgiven. It was like a dark movie. And I liked the Batman ones too. Like, yeah. I liked the Batman ones too. Yeah. Nolan, yeah. Yeah, those ones were incredible. Well, actually, you know, the first one was the first one with a chili Murphy in it, right? Yeah. Kill him. Kill him. Yeah. I liked that one. And then I liked the second one. I didn't like the third one. All right. Oh, there you go. There's my movie review for the day. Killian's Murphy. Look out at this guy in the world. Sam's coming. Killian. He's coming for you. Sam's going to start his own movie podcast. It sounds like once he figures out how to say Killian Murphy. Thank you. I want to hear more reviews of Sam or being Christopher and Nolan movies that can settle words a lot. Like, what would you go talking about? Was it was inception? Yeah. Confusing. Yeah. It feels dreams. It was cool. Was it the one? Tenant. Tenant was about... Everywhere. Everyone going backwards. Tenant. There's my review. I don't know. Have I talked to you about Tenant? And then, like, I'm part of Tenant Hive. Are you part of Tenant Hive? I'm not, Ben. I saw that still confused by your fan of it. Yeah. I'm so... I can also be confused by it and enjoy it. Like, just because it's confusing doesn't mean it's bad. My wife and I sat down to watch it. When I got five minutes in, we're like, do you want to do this? I'm like, no. She's like, thank God. Thank God. We have to get him over to your cast, Ron. I'm playing a dirty rush. I just liked him for the Shawneevry, the Shawneevry. Oh, yeah. Cameo in it. Yeah. He's great in all those, and all the movies. All right. Adnan, great suns on his body. See ya. Thank you, Ben. Thanks, Sam. Take care. All right, you too. Adnan Virk, MLB network, Cinephile podcast. 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.com. Do we know how Shawneevry got in with Nolan? No. Like, he has, like, not an insignificant part in the movie of the year, Oppenheimer. And it's the Oppenheimer. Okay. Yeah, it didn't. Yeah, it's not a movie guy. It's too long. Again, that you're watching. Two work review, too long. I win. I win. Sorry. What is the new Scorsese movie? The Killers of the Flyer. I win the theater. And watch that movie. That's like one of the two, I think, best-picture nominees I didn't see. Oh, my God. And I haven't told that now. There's just no let-off. It was like the whole time. It's, like, more depressed? Yeah. Darker? I'm like, this is terrible. I mean, the story in general, it's not a more of the most uplifting thing, but it's like, oh, Marty Scorsese, feels like here's some more movie takes for you. I watched the last two Marty movies in The Irishman and Killers of the Flyer Moon. He doesn't have anybody in his life that can tell him, though. He's surrounded by essence, like, both those movies could have been an hour and a half shorter. Just got a couple things out. I like The Irishman. No, you didn't. I did. Oh, my God. Sure. Wasn't maybe too long. No, it was horrendous. It was a horrendous movie. [LAUGHTER] I did. But everything you do, you want it to be done in the quickest possible time. No. I saw some long ones. I saw what was the movie with, oh, my God, the conductor movie. My stroke. Oh, no. The year before with the, oh, my God, Sarrr, the-- Oh, yeah, yeah. That was a phenomenal movie. But no, was it Sarrr? Is that right? God. Now you-- Somebody help us. We're dying. Anyways. OK. Good job. Thanks. Well done. McKee's movie. It was too long. Killie and Murphy. My favorite actor. Tarrr. It was called Tarrr. Lydia Tarrr. Lydia Tarrr. That was an excellent flick. Love that movie. And it was long. I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. So I enjoyed that movie as well. All right. I enjoyed watching the Canadian women take it to Columbia and as a proxy FIFA and the IOC. Is there a throw to the quarterfinals despite being docked six points? You know who probably also enjoyed it? Craig Forrest. Love it. Former Canadian international. He joins us next as the fan morning show continues. Ben Anis. Sam McKee sports net five nine to the fan. Playing out the biggest games of the night. It's the fan pregame with Ailish Forafar and Justin Cuthbert. Weekdays at 6 p.m. on Sportsnet Sportsnet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcast. Joe Ben Anis and Sam McKee that was Janine Becky I kind of identified what's different about this team. It's a whole lot of FU attitude. Oh yeah. They're sour. Ah. As am I. Yeah. As are you now that you've come to your senses after closing all your pearls last week. Listen. Yeah. Go out of here. Get out of here. Now we're in the kit with pride. I'm back. I'm all the way back. Yeah. And Canada advances despite being docked six points during the group stage they will play Germany in the quarterfinals. All right. Let's talk to former Canadian international goalkeeper Craig Forrest. He have the footy prime podcast. How's it going Craig? Pretty good actually. Thanks a lot. You're just listening to you guys a little bit about the emotional rollercoaster that we've been on with this women's national team is quite something. Yeah. What's it been like for you with obviously vested interest in this this program in this country to watch one the like the news start to come out the punishment that was handed down in the response by the women. Yeah. Well, I mean, first of all, the response was amazing. I mean, really under the difficult situation that they were emotionally, physically, mentally dealing with not sleeping well, not eating well, all these different things, emotions that you know, this could go back to Tokyo and what's going to happen with that metal and so on and so on. And how they actually have dealt with it is really quite impressive. It's something I don't think I've ever seen quite this brilliant of a reaction from a team for an awful long time or if ever under these circumstances at the Olympic Games that they've done so incredibly well. So I think a lot of the people that have come out after this happened where there's, you know, from all different federations in all different countries saying this isn't that big a deal, that to me is sort of for you, especially must been nice and validating. But like, how has it felt as a, you know, a Canadian soccer national as a hero of the country for Canada soccer? How has it sort of made you feel to see the reputation of soccer Canada kind of get dragged to the mud for a week? Well, I mean, a reputation of Canada soccer has been tried to the mud on a few occasions. It's a good point. It's kind of their deal. Yeah. If we could only get out of the way of each other, you know, the sport just keeps falling over each other and it will change. I feel very confident about that. Kevin Blue, the new CEO and General Secretary of Canada is an excellent hire and I think he's made some really good moves so far and he's come into this mess to clean it up too. And it's not something he probably would have expected, but it's something he's going to have to deal with. And I think that as long as the general public, corporate Canada, everybody, the government, everybody feels that they get to the bottom of this. They clean it up wherever it started and we know the tentacles are going to run a long way in this particular thing. And yeah, it's something that is not uncommon in football, football, generally different levels of cheating from on the field, whether you're diving for a penalty or they're feigning injury. I mean, these are all different levels of cheating that I would like to see cleaned up as well. However, when you're caught at the Olympic Games in a tournament that we look at with integrity and sportsmanship and all these different things that are so positive about the Olympic Games, I think that's where they've let themselves down. You're not only letting your cells down, but you're also letting your teammates and your athletes of the entire Olympic team that's over there in Paris. And I think that that's another bit of pressure that was added on them that they've dealt with well and I think that the athletes probably look at them a little bit differently walking through the can team these days as they did three weeks ago or so. Yeah, the Bev Priestman emails are pretty damning. And Canada Soccer has they've thrown John Hartman out of the bus. They've mentioned him by name as like the instigator at this whole thing when he started with the women's program. I don't know. Had you heard anything of that sort, Craig, had you heard rumors like what do you make of the fact that this has apparently been going on for years? I don't know how dissimilar it is from other programs, but that John Hartman's name specifically has been linked and obviously Bev Priestman, one of his assistants when he was with the women's national team, he goes to the men's national team, we've heard whispers of the same type of thing happening while he was there. And then secondarily, like what does that do to his standing with TFC right now? Well, those are all very good questions and I think that they're going to do an investigation and it will be interesting to see what MOS does, what MOSE does about it as they do an investigation. It is kind of one of those worst kept secrets that people that I've heard about it, absolutely. FICA and CONCACAP have heard about it too, but there's a lot of the reports that they had got. There's nothing that they could absolutely prove, you know, if somebody reports there's a drone over training is one thing, you document it, you put it down, but then when something like this happens in Paris, it's like, well, okay, all those rumors or reports, you know, it'll become a little bit more realistic and the potential for something coming down because of that, obviously, it increases. So now that the women have gotten through with three incredible victories, they've gotten through to the metal round, me and Ben talked about this a little bit earlier in our first hour that I'm almost, you know, even more invested now because I'm just so impressed by the gutziness of these women to get through that, you know, against two really good teams too in France and Columbia are two really, really good sides. And now I think it's just probably a really freeing feeling for a lot of Canadians knowing that they got punished, they got through it. And now you just get to throw everything behind them in terms of support. Oh, I totally agree. I think there is probably mixed emotions when they're playing against New Zealand. They're probably hoping that, you know what, I hope New Zealand, stick it to them here if they're cheating. And then they pile through that and then you see all the different things that are going on as well with the appeal and that, which I thought was worth a try and I think it was overly, you know, positive as far as the outcome of it, but a little bit frivolous potentially. But I think that it wasn't surprised by that. They were never going to change that. So, you know, they've battled through that. It just seems like it always seems to fall back on the women's team, you know, and the individual is playing out on the pitch that seems to turn things around, whether that was against the US, remember when they got it screwed back in 2012, they ended up winning the bronze medal, which was the spectacular story. Bronze again, four years later, then obviously the gold medal in Tokyo. So a lot of talk about that, too. I mean, I hope that that doesn't go that far as a, you know, sanction them, potentially taking a gold medal away from Canada. I don't see that happening, but you never know the IOC is going to have a real good look at it and all these different investigations will go on and we'll have to see where everything falls in the end. I don't know how you feel about it when David Shoemaker, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO, said, yeah, maybe that 2021 Olympic gold was tainted. I said, shut up. Don't say that. Why are you saying that? Have the people in charge supported this team enough? And I get it. Like we're Canadians. We want to be honest about things, but like, yeah, it just shut up. Like did you do it all feel that way? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I did absolutely. You don't want to throw in the attention to it, of course, but at the same time, if you're, you know, sweet was a team that they beat in penalties. If they're, if I'm honest, sweet, I'm making some calls, you know, like, he is a hail on the second, how, you know, maybe they were, you know, looking at our training sessions and watching our penalties and all these different things. And if that was the case, I mean, we're into areas where we really don't want to tread. But let's hope that that doesn't happen because it is a really good story and at the same time, Canada, you know, against Germany, Germany is an outstanding opposition. And we know it's out of power that they bring. And then if they beat them, they got to play the winners of the US and Japan. So it doesn't get any easier, but the potential there for, for getting a medal, some sort is certainly there again for Canada and they always seem to bring their best during the Olympic games. Okay. So you have unique insight into this as a former keeper, right? Like the type of intel you could get on penalties, how different would that be from just like reviewing game footage and studying tendencies of penalty takers? Like, is that of all the potential game changing elements of seeing a team's practice? Is that number one watching the penalty tendencies and how often during a practice will you practice penalties? Well, that's it. I mean, you don't always do that and it's something you usually do at the end of training. You might have a little competition or something like that, but I'm sure that, you know, with the history of everything that when you're doing that sort of thing, you're making sure there's nobody hiding in the bushes. You know, you absolutely make sure of it and you get so little out of watching a training session that we've been talking about this before, like the risks for the rewards of doing it. It just seems the stupidity level is just astounding, really. When you think about the risk of what the potential you could lose, I guess they didn't think of that. I guess that the worst for me is the lying. You know, if you stand up and you take responsibility right from the get go, people are pretty forgiving. I mean, if you look at sports with people who have taken drugs and talked about it openly and, you know, held their hands up, it goes away. Anybody who actually accepts responsibility, it will go away quickly, but not when you lie. And that was surprising. And when they're willing to take other people down within the association or your coaches down and put them over the ledge down the board is very disappointing and shows a bit about the character. Yeah, you said it there. It's just so stupid to do it. And you read like the defiance of John Herbert at his press conference, the whole thing around it. Just don't do it at the Olympics. It feels like if there's ever going to be a spot where there's going to be a lot more eyeballs on it and this story has a potential to blow up, it feels like the Olympics just felt so stupid at that time to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they were asked what they applied to take a throne over, but they were, you know, turned down on that because it's illegal at the moment, but those slides don't like you're breaking the law. That's the only reason why they got caught because the poor lad is in prison for three days dealing with this because it's an illegal operation. So it's, it's not good. It's not a good look, of course, but they seem to be changing the narrative, which is typical of our women's team who generally can do that in a brilliant way. Yeah. The guy that was caught flying the drone and spent some time in prison in Islam, like us, suspended sentence for like a year could have been in the clink in France for longer. He's named in one of the emails by the analyst who says, yeah, thanks. But no, thanks. I'm not going to put my morals aside and do the spying for you. I don't know if you've read the emails, Craig, but they're, they're pretty awful. And it kind of alludes to like, I don't know, man, we need more specificity from the free spend who we've seen the statement from. But it's almost like she was threatening to fire these people if they didn't do her bidding as far as spying. I know she's suspended for a year, but does it feel like she's done forever? Yeah. It's going to take an awful lot for her to get back. I think, like I said, the best thing for us to do is come clean about everything and just admit and be open about it. So she has any chance of getting back because who is going to hire somebody who's got that sort of character and, and, and lying about this, the sort of thing is really, really disappointing from her point of view because she's done so incredibly well and she made a really bad mistake or mistakes that could actually bring her down to a point where she might not ever get to this level again. No, it seems like that's a definite possibility. Craig, appreciate the time as always. How's the golf game? Of course, you and I defending champions at that one charity event that we play. Oh, really? Yeah, it wouldn't stick. We never played again. So we were, we were tired with the belt. How's the golf game? Well, that's right. We're, we're undefeated lifetime me and you've been. Hopefully you're swinging it well, buddy. Good. Good to chat. My pleasure. Have a great day. You too. Craig Forrest. Footy Prime, former Canadian International. You can swing it. You can play. Oh, yeah. Nice. So I was just looking at the leader pro athletes. Yeah. Look at that. Not really fair. Legolf National. Hadekiya Matsiyama, a finished 63 today. Joaquin Neiman in second, finished 66. Grio from Argentina, 66. And then Tom came on course at minus five. They're putting up some numbers here. So I continue to have a look at it while we're talking and it just doesn't look like it's holding up. So maybe they'll try to make it harder for going forward, but it just doesn't feel like there's a ton of defense for Legolf National. Corey Connor is with decent 68, but yeah, three under is five back of the lead after the first round. And Nick Taylor is even through 12 holes. So not great for him. Not ideal. But that's okay. They played four rounds just like a normal PGA tour event and what Nick Taylor in the opening round of the Canadian open that he won. What was he? He was like three over part. Yeah, he wasn't good. So yeah, you can always put forth. I mean, if low scores are out there, maybe throw it like it's 60, 61, 62, 63, right back in the mix. You're right back in the mix. All right, it's back to the women's national team. By the way, the women's basketball team underway right now against Australia after a very disappointing loss to France to start the tournament. They're down seven as they play in the fourth quarter, but yeah, it's just hasn't happened for the women's national team the way you would have hoped. Anyways, the women's soccer team and the changing the evolving feeling around that team, for I think all Canadians, like not everybody's as dramatic as you where you're like, throw them all in the Hague last week, you're like, punish them all. Don't let them back. You're like, they're no take away their passports. Get rid of them. Some of us who are more reasonable than that, but yeah, the people that were closer to that side of the ledger, even if you believe, which I don't, I believe Steph Labay, when she says like I had known prior knowledge, I do think that if you're the head coach and you're the assistants that are seeing this footage firsthand that you're probably done on her. Yeah, you're relaying the information, but not how you got it, right? But it's amazing how for everybody, I think now, the narrative has changed around this women's soccer team. It's become, I mean, outside of summer Macintosh and yeah, the men's basketball team, yeah, if they get to the metal round or whatever, it's become the story of the games in like a positive way that you could have never anticipated a week ago. No, that's correct. But I think they are always one of the stars of the Olympics, the women's soccer team feel like that's always one of the big ones, but it's just the way that they're huge stars now has just changed, right? Like it's a different type of story and one that we wouldn't have anticipated clearly and one we wouldn't have anticipated six days ago. So it's really, really changed and really looking forward to the game. You know, I just, I really, really liked the way they play, you know, they play super hard, they're gritty. I love them. So I am very, very excited and I am forever regretful for doing a show while the news is breaking and clutching at pearls, clutching. You know what I'm looking forward to, like the day that we can go, I don't know, six months, a year without a negative soccer story, right? It's just like every time they bring themselves into the spotlight with positivity, they immediately piss down their leg, like immediately. Why is this keep happening? I don't know. So I think that's our boy Kevin blues question to answer. So at least now there is at the tippy top of the pyramid, somebody that's new and different. And I trust him fully. Yeah, I mean, unbelievable job with golf Canada. Mm hmm. The Canada soccer business deal still is ongoing, but I think there's a lot of misinformation or confusion surrounding that. So maybe the money thing will still continue to emerge, but it's crazy. You get this incredible run of the Canadian men's national team into the World Cup for the first time in 30 years. And then like, what did we go a couple of months after that when there's talk of bankrupt say we're broke and the vote was and the loss in that nation's league final and not just the loss, the way they lost. And then the guy that at the time was, like I said, second to Alfonso Davies is the face of the team saying, this all sucks. Bye bye. You know what made my career and had people honestly talking about me maybe making a move overseas to either a club team or some bigger national team, like, that's all gone. And I can't take it here anymore because not only do they not have any money, but like, we may have like been over our skis as far as performance. And then you got the positivity of the Copa America. Yeah. Who would Kone kick that ball the long here guy and oh my God, that was the best. And then we got this drone stuff, which is, okay, it's, it's not going away. Also is the other part of it. It feels like we're at the start. Yeah. I think Craig's also right when he says, if you just admit culpability immediately, we're such a forgiving society, of course, right? Who doesn't love somebody who's done something wrong? That's the other thing we love as Canadians. If John heard my outside and said, like, yeah, I'm sorry, I thought it was acceptable. It was within the bounds of acceptable play and I was wrong. Instead he denied denied denied and he's going to be Friday. All right. All right. Great stuff, thank you. Ben, I really enjoyed it. Do we do the thing when we look each other's side of the second morning? We can. Okay. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. of the second morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.
