[MUSIC] September 5th is less than a month away. >> Can't get here fast enough. >> That glorious, glorious day. We'll see all of your, not my, but all of your Kansas City Chiefs, America's team, the new public team taking on the Baltimore Ravens. I was about to say my, cuz it would have worked well for what I was setting up there. But man, don't care, win, don't, don't really care what happens to you Baltimore Ravens. >> They can tie. >> I don't do that. I would not like that, a tie to start the NFL season. >> Well, that's cuz your team isn't gonna make the playoffs. That's why my team is fully entrenched- >> I do not want a tie to start the NFL season. That quite frankly feels un-American. I don't know why I'm the arbiter of that, but even I can sniff that out. >> Yeah, but you say it feels very un-American, but there's a joke to be made here about kissing your sister in the Southern States, but I'm not gonna make it. >> I think you did. Okay, so obviously that's when the NFL regular season starts up, Ravens chiefs, they get it going on that Thursday night, that'll be the September 5th game as for the Bills. They'll start after their season. >> Bit of a soft launch for the Bills at home against the cards. >> So bizarre. I can't say that that is just like a game anybody would have had on their bingo card. I almost feel like when the NFL schedule spit that one out, unplug it and plug it back in. Looks wrong. I don't know if it is. I'm sure they're allowed to play each other, but it looks wrong. >> Blow on the bottom of the card. >> Yeah, stick it over. >> I don't know. Give it a jiggle, just like an old school, just like Fonzie elbow to the side of the schedule of making machine. I don't know something about that. We will of course have preseason games tonight. We've lost the most important narrative in preseason when the Ravens finally lost a preseason game last year. >> I know. I did love having that, that just quite frankly, holy dumb record that we continued to talk about like Jason Lacumfora was always losing his mind of people trying to talk about how important it was there in Baltimore. You're always plugged in. You always have football on the brain as does our next guest. Very, very happy to be joined by your friend of mine, Charles Davis, analyst for the NFL on CBS as well as the NFL Network, Charles, how are we doing today? >> Doing great. How are you guys? >> I was just saying, September 5th, less than a month away, we can start the countdown now to when the season begins. I mean, we've already had a little preseason action. We're going to get a little more now. You know, it's just, it's always kind of crazy how the season sneaks up on us. Plenty of storylines at this time of year, obviously the kind of biggest one right now. Brandon Ayuk, you know, the first volleyball we got of this was him saying, mmm, thanks but no thanks to the Patriots. What did you make for the market of Brendan Ayuk and him saying maybe not New England? >> Yeah, it's very interesting, isn't it? Because I've been pretty staunch from the beginning that I thought he would end up back with the 49ers for this season. And all this action would take place after this season. Like, you know, I knew there'd be, you know, the flurry of discontent and can we do this? But the 49ers have kind of earned a reputation of working with guys who are a little bit disgruntled finding a way to make it work for at least a short term. With Deebo Samuel, they would make it work for a long term. And they want one more big run at the Super Bowl. So I thought, okay, this could kind of work, Brandon could see it where almost your poem "The Jerry Maguire Rod" did well. Play on this deal, you know, bet on yourself and the next year you can be somewhere else you want to be for more money. So this recent last week, week and a half where it looks like, hey, they're trying to find a deal for him, he's trying to find a deal for himself is not going to say surprise me, that'd be naive on my part. But I feel less optimistic now that he lands with the 49ers to begin. Saying no to the Patriots and all that, eh, here's the thing. He's on a team that's built to have a chance at the Super Bowl. It's almost like he's trying to have his cake and eat it too now, right? I want to be somewhere else if you guys aren't going to pay me, but I want to go somewhere where we're not going to win. And it's so weird for us right now in this NFL landscape to say, well, it's a place you're probably not going to win this year. Kind of weird. Charles, listen, there's a, there's a world in which I believe that Brandon Iuke is probably looking for 30 plus million dollars a year and that puts him in some pretty elite territory. Now, I like Brandon, I you just as much as the next guy. I'm, I wouldn't say that I'm as high on Brandon, I you guys, Brandon, I you can, his camp is on Brandon, I you, but do you think that there is a team that's out there that is not the New England Patriots that is saying that's a 30 plus million dollar receiver? Because we're talking about Justin Jefferson and eventually CD lamb and eventually Jamar Chase, Amun Ross, St. Brown, like we're talking about the elite of the elite. Is Brandon Iuke in that tier for you or do you see him as maybe a tier or even to below those guys? I'm pessimistic about him being in the 30 million dollar range because the way the college game is gone now to where throwing the football is paramount, which means, and I've said this consistently for the last three, four years now. Every year, not the NFL draft, I feel like we're going to say, well, one position we know is loaded as receiver, so when you have that coming at you every year with the league and a high degree of confidence that they're going to be some really good players in that position, it's hard to go to that 30 million dollar range and with the guys that you mentioned, I get it for almost all of them. Amun Ross, St. Brown is a little bit of an anomaly because Detroit is trying to reward the guys that are getting them to this place where they are now, a place they haven't been in the long time. I think that in other places, I'm not sure he makes that kind of money, but that makes any sense at all. But in Detroit, that works really well for them, perfect for their culture, perfect for their locker room, and it's not that he's not a terrific player, he is, but when we're talking about the elite of the elite, that's when you start to say to yourself, okay, where's the breaking point for it, and what are the reasons the team will find it? That's why I'm not sure I use going to make that kind of money. It's going to get a great deal, but I think similar to you, I don't know if it goes to that number. So I'm glad you brought up the impact that college receivers are having like right out of college and coming into the NFL. Do you think that more teams will eventually look at something like what the Green Bay Packers have done, something like what the Buffalo Bills have done where it's like, okay, we're not going to have the high price guy because we have the high price quarterback right now, and that guy should be good enough to elevate these other ones, and we can play these guys on cheaper deals, and maybe we spend a little bit more money on defense or on our offensive line to protect said quarterback, and we're not going to worry as much about giving the big tickets to wide receivers. Yeah, I think it's a formula that tried and true is probably wrong because to make it tried and true, it means your quarterback has to make it work as you pointed out, right? If you have the high price quarterback, that's one thing, but does the high price quarterback make everyone else better that way? Tom Brady's probably a patron saint in recent years, right? He had Randy Moss for a short time, and they were beyond explosive, but take Moss away, and you talked about a lot of really good slot receivers that were on the domain targets, right? You're talking about an Edelman, a West Welker, you know, guys of that nature, you talk about Gronk at tight end, but that explosive receiver, we really kind of start in the conversation with Randy Moss, don't we? Yeah. So go to the next two, go to the last two years in league and who's won Super Bowls. Oh, that's Kansas City. Who was wide receiver one for Kansas City? MVS. It's Travis Kelsey, right? Yep. So, so if that quarterback has that ability to make those players around him better and as you pointed out, you fortify another place as Kansas City, more from being one of the most explosive offenses in the league to really be in a defense first team the last year or two. You know, you go through that and you start seeing it, okay, now there's the challenge in the goal, but it's been thrown down essentially for Josh Allen. It's not going to be stiff on digs and explosive guys out there. Keon Coleman has to come on and be become your number one guy. You have to bring him along. Hey, that guy in Kansas City did in one, two titles. I know you're burning for a title. Your turn. Jordan Love. Okay. We're going to draft some receivers may not be the so-called top tier guys may not be number one in the draft, but we're going to draft some good ones for you. Let's see what happens here. Guess what? Last 10 games last year were into the playoffs. Boy, did he ascend and make them better. So your point is well taken. The key to everything though is not just the quarterback high price is the quarterback high priced and high powered and adaptable enough to say, okay, how do I need to play? How do we need to play to bring these guys along? And then you have to look at the head coach and say, okay, how else are you going to structure your team to help me while I'm trying to bring these guys along because bring them along with one thing. But if all of a sudden your defense is giving up 30 a day 30 a game, and now you got a problem on your hand, you know, you need help from the rest of the team. Yeah, it's tough, right? I mean, there's certainly quarterbacks in this league that are capable of going going in a shootout with needing to put up 30 plus. You just don't want to have to do it all that often. We're all suckers for new blood in the league, especially at the quarterback position. You know, it doesn't feel like we're going to have too many drafts going forward, but there's not one or two kind of sexy quarterbacks. And you see what happened this year with with Williams, McDaniel's and May up at the top of the draft. I'm just, if you could remind me of your kind of thoughts on those guys, how you kind of ranked the three of them coming out of the draft and what are your, what are your expectations for the class kind of as a whole? Yeah, you know, pretty much the way they came off the board, one, two, three, that was pretty much my, my evaluation of them, Williams, you know, it had been that kind of playmaking guy from, from day one, whether he did Oklahoma USC, Daniels was, was an ascension to see him go and jump up, which we've seen a lot in recent years where the quarterbacks like, you know, the first couple of years, I think they're okay and, and then all of a sudden like, whoa, those in your top of the charts, we've seen the jump and, and Daniels gave us that last year. May was consistent from day one. And he was the quarterback. I thought they got beat up the most in the pre draft process. And I'm still a little puzzled by that. And I see these articles and things come down to England where he's, oh, and Joe Nixon, you know, the six round guy, let me just tell you some Joe Nixon's arm is always going to wow people. But give it time. And by the way, I've talked with my people in New England. No one is batting an eye right now that the idea that Drake may is getting beat out by Joe. Charles, if I could just quickly jump in on that, there's never been an easier story to foresee coming then and like, I love my fellow members of the media, but them sitting there on the sideline going, God, he just threw that ball. 80 yards. Look, like that was the easiest story in the world to see coming. Well, we all, we all fall in love with it. It's just kind of like watching the Olympics and seeing who wins the 100 meters. Yeah. But we should put him the wide receiver. He'll be great. You know, I mean, it's just the way it works. Look, Nick's was drafted. And I think that Denver was thrilled to get him. I think they didn't have to move. They didn't have to change. I think he was their guy all along unless it was J.J. McCarthy. I thought there's a chance McCarthy might go three to New England because he's a Michigan guy. Maybe they want to emulate Brady again, but when it didn't happen, he couldn't have landed at a better place than Minnesota. And then of course, I'm trying to think it was Alaska. We had six. Oh, yeah. Pennics. That was our surprise. The first round. Yeah. Surprising car cousins as well. Yeah. The farther we get away from it, I get where Atlanta's going with their thinking. I just didn't know that they'd be bold enough to do something like that because I was like, well, they got to try and win right now. I mean, they got new, but they brand hired a brand new head coach. I thought the owner was going to be the one to got to win right now. The owner was the one who actually put in place. Hey, we can do this for the future. So in the beginning, we know the top two are going to start day one. We know that may. I think it'll take a little time. They're going to try and bring him along slowly. We'll see. You know how it goes after a while. All of a sudden you're one and seven. Guess what he's playing? You know that. Then you get in the Knicks. I think he starts day one with Denver. McCarthy does not start day one with Minnesota, but he will start before the season is over in my home. Pull opinion and panics. We'll just see how it goes because Atlanta is geared up in a battle with Tampa Bay for a division title. And as long as they're in it and cousin is playing well, I don't expect to see panics. Well, Terry Fonno knows all too well from his time with the Saints that they really liked Patrick Mahomes and they didn't get him because the Chiefs bumped up. That's why they didn't. That's why nobody had any idea that they were going to draft Michael Panics with that. One did. I wanted to. I wanted to ask you about Patrick Mahomes and this chief's team because, you know, they're coming off back to back Super Bowls as we know they're going for the three P and I look at this team and I look at their Super Bowls the last two years and they've done it in different ways. Patrick Mahomes was not the MVP type quarterback that we had seen in the regular season, but in the playoffs, he just turned it on and the defense was elite. This year it kind of looks like they're getting a little bit back to that high octane high powered high scoring offense that we got accustomed to seeing for the first few years with Patrick Mahomes at the helm again. They just have speed merchants all over the field and you hear about Rishi Rice looks like a totally different receiver. They brought in Hollywood Brown. They drafted Xavier Worthy do they like I feel like, you know, when sometimes Super Bowl champions they take a dip because they've lost some guys and I know they lost luxurious need. They're a juggernaut again and I don't know like I think the Ravens are really good. I think the Texans are really good, but I don't think they hold the candle to the Chiefs because they've done it again in a totally different way. They've just kind of reinvented themselves once again. I like what you just said there that the reinventing, even though the building blocks stay in place, right, that the key guys are still around for the most part. Yeah, losing needs going to hurt, but they had directed Trent McDuffie. So, guess what you kind of replace from within and Trent McDuffie was playing at a really high level at the end of last year. They want to get back to being more explosive on offense because that's where the league is going and now the defense. This is almost a love letter to their defense. You guys took care of us the last two years. We want to get back to helping take care of you. Now we don't want you to dip on defense. All right. We don't want you to go back to saying, well, give us 14 nothing lead. We rush the passer. We still want you to be as dominant as you were, but if we can add in the speed and fusion and get back to patch from my homes, being able to throw it down field as we used to, that changes things and puts more pressure on defenses that we play. So, I really like your observation about reinventing, reinvigorating from within and bringing those guys in to play the style they want to play because the best way to sum it up is my homes is playing the best quarterback he's played in his life, even though the numbers don't show it, because he understands the game better than he's ever played it before. But isn't it more fun when Patrick Mahomes is flinging that bad boy down field and being grounded and going and getting it, and you had to bring in Hollywood Brown, you had to bring in Xavier worthy, not just because you wanted to speed, but guess what, you may have to bridge a suspension because we're still waiting to find out why that's where she writes. He may be looking better than ever, but let's be frank about it. For him to start the season would be a major upset. OK, I'm just trying to figure out how many games is going to be before he has to sit out before he comes back. I mean, I'm going to start with the number six. That's what I was thinking to when surprised me if it went to eight. And if it gets to eight, I think Kansas City will appeal. If it's six, I think they say, thank you, and we'll see you starting game stuff. Oh, and this is this is quite frankly a crazy sentence for me to say, but I do think it's true. It's like, there's a world where that helps them in a big way, where they learn to operate without him. And then all of a sudden, it's like, hey, look at our like a trade that I'm going to say, look at our look at the big trade we made six weeks into the season is my homes is found familiarity with other with other players. Yeah. Yeah, you hate to say, you know, you hate to look at the way because of what she did. Yeah. I mean, we're just so he and the rest of us just so fortunate, no one was seriously hurting all that. That was just beyond ignorant what went down, but you're right in terms of football. But people jump up up and now you bring him back in and you take it and go from there. I talk with a team in the off season who had signed a guy who was going to be suspended for X number of games. And they're very comfortable with the idea of, yes, he should be suspended. Yes, we back it. We're not even appealing it. But guess what, in a great, in a great situation, we get him for the stretch drive, which is exactly when we're going to need him anyway. So I think your point is well taken. I can't remember there being less conversation about a two time MVP who plays for a great team in Lamar Jackson than we had this year. I don't know if it's that we did all of our Lamar Jackson talking last year because he didn't have a contract. So we've kind of, we always need to pick like, you know, a new sexy person to talk about at the off season. But, you know, this guy is the exact same number of MVPs as Patrick Mahomes does, obviously still waiting for the big, big one there. But it just seems like the Ravens are a team that's, you know, borderline kind of flying under the radar a little bit here, Charles. Yeah. And I think the reason we're not talking about him as much, two reasons. One, as you pointed out, we don't have the contract to worry about. And he's now a two time MVP. So he's utterly established in this league, but I'll give you the third one hasn't gotten over the hop over the hump yet, get to the Super Bowl. And I know that everything isn't about the Super Bowl, but for quarterbacks, let's be honest, it kind of is, right? That's where it goes. And they had no better situation than they had last year, number one seed, AFC Championship game at home, Kansas City not coming in exactly high powered and Kansas, they found a way to get them on their home field. This is what this is the next step. I think the conversation for Lamar Jackson jumps back up when that gets accomplished now. Because right now, we're almost, and I hate this, almost taken in for granted, he's going to be great. He's going to be exciting. But Baltimore Ravens are going to be good. Can they be Kansas City? Can they be Cincinnati, which we expect to jump back up there and be a good team this year with Burrow being healthy, right? Pick your teams along the way in AFC that you think are going to be good. Can they beat them in the playoffs and get back to a Super Bowl? John Harbaugh won one in 2012 beat his brother. Can they get back there and win another one because they're always consistently good. But they've kind of lulled us asleep with, yeah, we know you're good. When you beat the teams and get back to a Super Bowl, make us say, wow, they're exceptional. And I think that's where Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are right now. Unfortunate, kind of a fact of life in the NFL though, there's only one team that's always poised to trophy. And when you do that, we talk about you more and it's unfortunate because Lamar's got two MVPs, but not a Super Bowl appearance yet. It's still out there for it. John won't have to worry about brother Jim this year anyway. I did want to stay. I did want to stay in the AFC North there. Okay, Russell Wilson has got, he's been banged up a little bit with the cap injury. Justin Fields has gotten the majority of the reps and the returns have been seemingly very good. The question I ask you, Charles, is who of Russell Wilson or Justin Fields makes more starts for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year? I think Russell Wilson does. I think that what is happening is obviously Wilson's been out at the cap injury to bring him along slowly. The older you get, the older you get in the league, the more cautious you're going to be with injuries. That's just the way it is. Fields is doing a nice job, fresh start, good place for him to be, style of ball will be excellent for him, but I know for a fact in the Pittsburgh organization, they were really high on everything they got from the day Russell Wilson reported there, the who he is, how he's gone about his business and let's face it guys, he's gone from Seattle to Denver and the way he left Seattle and the way Denver started and finished. You don't come in riding the horse at the front of the parade now. You come in as part of the parade and I think Russell Wilson has adapted that very well and they're really high on who he is and what he brings to their place. Have you noticed how quiet it's been with him even in the off season? Remember what it was like in Denver? We had billboards. We had catch free. Let's ride. Yeah. Let's ride. We had an office. We don't have any of that in Pittsburgh. All that is gone. All vestiges are gone with that. He also doesn't have a coach who needed to prove that he was the coach and you're the player. So Sean Payton came in and never even talked to Russell Wilson told the rest of us. There won't be any office here. There's no special parking places here, but you know, okay. Now you're there. Mike Tom will want to quarterback to lead his team. You kicked around a little bit. You come out the other side. Pittsburgh likes him a lot. I'll be I'll be stunned if he's not their starting quarterback to begin this season and makes the most starts this year. Yeah. It's funny. Not that not that Mike Tomman isn't super sure of himself and has a way he wants to do things, but it just does feel like that's going to be a very different relationship than the one he he had with Peyton. Yeah. Last thing I'll say he's catching him at the perfect time. Yeah. When when Sean Payton went in, it was coming off of a disaster the year before it gave Sean Payton carte blanched to come riding in and go, hey, clean it this way, okay? Mike Tomman didn't even have to worry about that. All that was actually taking care of for him by Sean Payton and by the last two years in Denver. So guess what? Russell Wilson comes in a more humble quarterback for him. So you're exactly right. Mike Tom looks extremely short with himself. He has no worries about that, but he doesn't have to tell the rest of the world or show the world that he's in charge with Russell Wilson. That's already taken place. Yeah. No, that's that's that's really well said less than a month away. I cannot wait. And hey, not even a month away. We got a little football tonight, preseason action. Charles. Thanks so much for jumping on. Always appreciate it. Thanks for having me, guys. You take care of yourselves. Okay. We will. There you go. Charles Davis, analyst for the NFL on CBS as well as the NFL network. I say it all the time. It's the beauty of this league. Like God, I love hockey. I am not having New Jersey. Well, this year I will be, but I am not having New Jersey Devils conversations, right? It's just like it is the only league in the world. Like God, could you imagine doing that interview just now about baseball and like, well, so tell me about the Diamondbacks. No, please don't. No, why would you? Why would I even say that? That's like I'm offended that I even threw that idea out there. It is the best sport because of exactly that. You can, you just pick a quarterback, you go on about him for 10, 15 minutes, narrative is a plenty. Oh, God, I can't wait for sweet, sweet NFL to be back. Every team has a story and the biggest thing with the NFL is that, yes, the news cycle is 365 days a year. Sometimes 366. They even took Christmas. They even was like, Hey, us and Santa and they're like and and us. Yeah, exactly. And so I, but with every team, there's a storyline because the season so short, every game means something. And if you are in the tank, guess what? Now you've put yourself in a position to maybe make a franchise altering move and, and you know, draft a quarterback or draft the next star wide receiver or whatever. I love the NFL. Yeah. This is, this is easy pickings. So I did think it was not to, not to make everything because I'm very, I'm very hesitant. I obviously have to spend a lot of time in my time working here talking about the Patriots. Sure. Now that they're less relevant, I'm hesitant to constantly kind of drag them into everything because I don't think people care quite quite frankly, like I barely care as much as I. I think there's a big, I think there's a story there. But what I was going to say is, I think it is fascinating to me when a team has a sea change, whether it be it comes with a GM change, it comes with the president change with New England. It's happened with a coaching change here and things just feel different around it. Them trying and being unable to go trade for a yuke. That is the single least Patriots move of the last two and a half decades of all time. They go and get talented players. They're just when they're super distressed assets and you can get them for the cheap and it's, it's, you know, taking Randy Moss from Raiders, Randy Moss to Patriots, Randy Moss, it's not going out and getting a guy at the absolute top of his value. I also wonder what that says about how they feel about May and it's like, okay, if you're going to make that move, yes, it is to improve your quarterback or help his situation. But you also have to believe that's going to benefit the team at large in terms of wins and losses. It can't just be to kind of put some training wheels on a guy like that. So it's just fascinating to me that because again, there could, there was a Brendan IU cup for trade every three years in the NFL, the whole entirety of the Belichick era. Tom Brady, we just went through the weapons. He had it was never even close to a discussion. And it's one of the first things that kind of new regime Patriots do. Yeah. I try to. Yeah. Because I think they've seen that the proof is in the pudding when you, when you get a young quarterback, a really good wide receiver, it changes things. We saw what AJ Brown did for Jalen Hertz. Yeah. We saw what Stefan Diggs did for Josh Allen. Um, I mean, even early in his career, I know it was like the, the two of them intersected very briefly, but it's like a J or a J green and Joe burrow in Cincinnati, right? 100% and that's why I think they see the value in that. I, when you talk about, you know, Brandon and I you translating to wins, I think Brandon and I you being a wide receiver as good as he is. Makes your quarterback better, which helps translate to wins because the defense is already there. Like there, the Jerrod Mayo should not change very much on that defense. Yeah. And he knows what a good one looks like. Yeah. He played on plenty of him. And so I wouldn't be making that change because having a good defense also takes that pressure off of the quarterback. Now I agree with Charles that Drake may is probably not playing until like I, my guess is week 12. Yeah. Because I think Jacobi Bursette is serviceable. And now it's just the most there's never been a more kind of seal or sorry, just floor setting quarterback in the league than Jacobi Bursette who did it with the brown, same exact thing. Yeah. He was better than Deshawn Watson when he came back from suspension. And so I think that their, their wide receiver group is, I know a lot of people are down on it. I don't hate it. I actually quite, I quite like it. I think there's a lot of options there. The run game's good. They're offensive lines. But like I just, I think that the, I think the Vegas line is like four and a half wins for them. I think they're probably around five wins and I don't think that's a bad thing for the Patriots. No, it's not. You want to have another year, you restock things, whether it be, I know all my, all my Patriots brethren have out there, I've had enough time of trading down in the draft. But whether it should take somebody with another high pick, you turn it into several other, other players or pieces, it's definitely the time to do that. Oh, we will have plenty of time to, again, it's the only league in the world where we can sit here and just, man, let's deep dive into any team we want at any given time. It's the beauty of it. The beauty of the Olympics is that they're happening right now in front of my face. I just saw some Slovakian rowers. I don't believe Canada currently in action right now in anything. But of course, we got to talk about the Olympics. We got to talk about what happened on the track. We got to talk about what's coming up on the track for Canada. So joining us next is Kate Van Buskirk, sorry, Van Buskirk. She's going to join us, Canadian Olympian and athletics broadcaster with the CBC. She's coming up next halfway through the fan morning show on Sports dev five night of the fan. Unrivaled insight, analysis and opinions on all things blue jays, Blair and Barker, be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. The duality of sport, fan morning show, gunning, Marquesi continuing here, great morning. And I don't know how time works. I feel like it'd be night there, but great morning on the track for Canada, but the men's and women's teams qualifying for the four by 100 meter final. That includes a national record setting performance by our Canadian women. So awesome to them, both in the final rewinding a little bit to yesterday, disappointing day, specifically Andre de Grass. Again, not his last chance. He's going to have a chance in a medal in the four by 100 meter final, but certainly not the performance he would have liked in what is entirely possible, the last 200 meter of his Olympic career. Joining us now to talk about said Olympics, Canadian Olympian and athletics broadcaster for the CBC, Kate Van Buskirk joining us now, Kate, thanks so much for jumping on this morning. Oh, I'm doing great. It's been a long several days, but for most of the right reasons. So yeah, thanks for having me on looking forward to this. Okay, let's start there. Let's talk a little bit about the fugue state you get into. You know, I've worked some long hours in this business of okay, it's a rain delay baseball game and just keep talking until the rain stops. Surely it'll let up soon. We do this because we love it, but God, it is a it's a grind when you're in it. I'm sure nothing to when you were, you know, competing in 2020, but it is a it's a it's amazing how quick the Olympics feel when you're just watching them as a fan. But when you're working or heaven forbid, competing in them, I imagine it's a it does feel a little more of a grind. Oh, it's so true. And I actually say often that I think being an athlete for two and a half decades prepared me really well for the grind of broadcasting because I'm not certain anything that I did on the track was quite as grueling as these hours. But like you said, you do it for all the right reasons. You love it. And you know, the time change is part of it too. I'm up at four AM watching events and feeling like I'm, you know, hyped up like it's the end of the day. And then the day continues. So it's it's been really exciting. It has been. But before we get into anything, I have to ask you this because you are a Brampton native. You went to Turner Fenton secondary school. My cousins went there as well. I used to drive by it all the way to the power center. Yeah, it's this is kind of like a full circle thing. But the reason I bring it up is because you, I believe you still hold rops of records, the region appeal athletic association was that I have done my research. Now was that where the love for athletics started for you or was it somewhere else? Because I mean, there are some galvanizing moments, whether it be, you know, we talked about Donovan Bailey in 96 and and that was a major moment for us in our Olympic fandom. Was there was there a moment for you or was it in high school where that really changed for you and you're like, this is what I want to do going forward? Well, it was definitely both, but we've got that in common when it comes to the Donovan Bailey story and talk about full circle for me. So I was nine when I was watching those 1996 Olympic games and I was already, you know, participating in like track and field day at school, but my dad was a marathoner. And so I kind of come from a running family. It was always like in, you know, in the in the aura and then we were watching the Olympic games and at nine years old, I turned to my dad and very defiantly, I was like, one day I'm going to go to the Olympic games and I'm going to break Donovan Bailey's world record in the 100 meter. And my dad was like, that's nice dear, like, let's try this like, you know, local soccer game. Yeah, a little tussle of the head. Yeah, keep it up. Yeah. But, you know, you know, and not to take anything away from them, my family's very encouraging us by dreams, but it's really cool to, you know, have those moments and I think that's why I've continued latching on to the Olympics in such a big way because I will never forget that moment of being, you know, a little kid and watching this, like, behemoth of the sport across the line, wearing Canada across his chest, letting out that like iconic roar. And then that set the tone and it took me 25 years, but 25 years later, I made my, my first and only Olympic games and there were a lot of, of course, moments along the way, the development is so important, the rops, the offs, and then, you know, moving on to the NCAA system and eventually team Canada. But yeah, I love the origin stories because so many of us of my vintage have the Donovan moment. And now I get to work with him at the CBC, which is also, you know, full circle for me. And I think it's so cool because I'm watching so many of my compatriots now at these games, being that person who's probably going to inspire, you know, the next of me and the next generation of runners coming up as well. Yeah, I think that's the beauty of the Olympics is, you know, sometimes you've got to reach far to find it, but we all have the, like, be it one degree, two degree, three degrees of separation or, you know, somebody's from a small town that you remember playing a hockey game at once. It truly is the beauty of it. Like, you know, I was talking with that with someone in my high school, Caroline Mearsch, beating a couple of Olympics as well. And it's just, you have these kind of, you have these connections to people and you never kind of would have thought it. It's, you know, sometimes we're watching pro sports and, you know, LeBron James. It's like, I'd have to stretch pretty far before I have a connection to him, but it's a little easier when we're doing at the, at the Olympics. There are always the kind of marquee stories that were prepped for coming in and then kind of take over. But I think one of the, you know, the, there's no such thing as a sad part of a successful Olympics, but sometimes when Canada's racking up medals, some of the great stories can kind of go under, under the radar. Do you have a, I don't want to say your favorite story, but one that you'd kind of want to highlight that you've noticed that the Olympics that maybe is gone under the radar, just somebody that you'd like to give a little flowers to, because I mean, you know, we come on here every day and I've had conversations about sprinting, sprinting, sprinting, and Noah Liles and the grass and the four by 100, but there's just so many athletics events or quite frankly Olympic events that can, if they don't catch you at kind of right, quite the right moment can get overshadowed. Yeah. And I love that you're bringing that up because I, I, we kind of have been talking, you know, my friends and a lot of us who are, you know, previous athletes that the Olympics really are more than medals, and of course that's a focus. It's a great thing for national pride, but to your point, like there's so many of these other cool storylines that come up that do get overshadowed sometimes. So I mean, I know I don't have three hours to talk to you guys about this, but we totally could try to keep it, you know, concise, but I think there have been a lot of what's been exciting for me as kind of like an overarching theme for team Canada at these games in athletics is that you're seeing a bit of a changing of the guard. So we do have several of, we all have all of our medalists from Tokyo returning. So we won six medals in Tokyo. All of those athletes were competing at these games again. It's been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of the results from those athletes, which we can get into. But there's a whole other sort of like next generation coming up after them who are just have a fire under them and are like nipping at the door of making it into finals and making it into semi finals or running personal best at their very first games. And so, you know, one of the ones I want to highlight right away and we're going to talk about the 5,000 meter, but Tomah Fafard, who's a Quebec athlete, made his first Olympic games and he made his first Olympic final in the 5,000 meter and the 5k at the Olympics is one of the deepest events. We talk about the sprints, but really, you know, with the East Africans dominating for the most part, the Americans are always good. And then, you know, Canada's had a pretty good history as well. Tomah Fafard to make his first final at his first Olympic game. That is, I think, probably beyond what he thought was possible here. And I love those stories of like making it to your first Olympics, making it to your first final. And he's set to compete on Saturday. So we'll see what he does, but he's also one of seven athletes representing Quebec on our team. We only had one at the last game. So this has been a really big moment for him. And then, you know, Audrey Laduc, she's a sprinter, but she has been breaking Canadian records right left in center. She broke a 37-year-old Canadian record in the 100-meter earlier this year. Didn't make it through to the final at the Olympics, but made it to the semi by breaking her own record in the heats, which was huge and just like coming out looking like a pro. And she was in the youth sport championships last year. Like, she didn't even go to the NCAA. She had never made a major team before and like comes out and just has this monster performance. I love to see that. And yeah, like Christopher Morales Williams in the men's 400. He didn't make the final, but he had a fabulous year at the NCAA. He's actually turning 20 at these games and made it to the semi broke the indoor world record in the 400 earlier this year. Unfortunately, it wasn't ratified. He did that at the SEC championships, but I love stories like that. And then maybe just to throw some flowers on Lucy, a Stafford as well, because she ran a 1500-meter and just she pours her heart and soul into it. She didn't make it out of the repichage round. She was the first non-qualifier for the final in Tokyo in her first game and kind of blue expectations out of the water. But she said at this game, she's just having so much more fun and able to really enjoy being with her teammates. And yeah, there's just, there's tons of reasons to be excited about Team Canada coming up. Jazz Shukla, I hope we talk about her because she made it in the 800-meter and ran the second fastest time in Canadian history at the trials, one by four seconds to get here and didn't make it through the final. Again, like you have all these athletes who are gaining the experience that's going to be necessary to catapult them to the next level, you know, over the next few years of the World Championships and then come LA in '28. You're obviously a big fan of, you know, athletics in the Olympics. And for obvious reasons, I mean, we are too. But when you're, when you are an athlete and you're at the Olympics, it's obviously hard to, you know, take in everything that's happening with all the other athletes that's going on. Is that now your appreciation is that you are able to keep an eye on everything that's going on and you can, and you can help celebrate these athletes, which is, again, very difficult when you're competing yourself because, yeah, you've got your own event to worry about. Is that kind of been the evolution for you in this analyst role where you can really be an advocate and a fan of all these other athletes who are competing now? Yeah, yes. I mean, I couldn't put that more beautifully. Well said. Absolutely. That's totally been the experience and I've been, I felt really fortunate to be on this side of it. Look, like I said, I set my Olympic ambition when I was nine, 25 years later, I made the games and of course, there's a, you know, a ton of stories that come in between there. But I kind of joke that I got a PhD in running because I was at it for so long. And so to be able to have the opportunity to continue in this role and now see it from the other side. Absolutely. I mean, this is a little bit embarrassing to admit, but I couldn't have told you a thing about the hammer throw, you know, five years ago because I, of course, I was cheering on my teammates and I was really excited for them and I was always around what was happening. But it just, you have this, you put the blinders on and you have such a singular focus and you're so caught up in the stats of your own event. I mean, this is the unique thing about track and field, right? There's no other sport that has this range of technicality between the sprints to the mid-distance to the hurdles, the race walk, the throws, the jumps. I mean, it's just like, there's so much to know. So yes, I absolutely have loved being on this side and being able to watch it all. And the other thing is my only games were Tokyo, or yeah, we're Tokyo, which was the COVID Olympics, right? So I, we came in five days before our event and we had to leave within 48 hours. So I raced at 7pm on a Friday night and by noon on Sunday I was on a plane back to Pearson. So I didn't get to see, I saw Andre's 200 semi in person because we were allowed to go to the competition venue of our own sport for one day after we competed. So the one cool moment about that that I will say is like, you know, the stands were empty when I raced, which is start contrast to what's happening in Paris. It's sold out 80,000, you know, person stadium every single day. But you know, you could hear a pin drop when I ran my race in Tokyo, but then the next day I got to go watch Andre's 200 semi and it was me and like four other athletes. And so they're announcing him and we went absolutely wild. And that was all you heard in the stadium because this little, you know, quartz head of us and he looked up like he was the big wave in the smile. And so, you know, we were able to have that sort of intimate moment in this giant empty stadium. But yeah, I've become the biggest fan of my own sport and it's kind of like being a tourist in your own city. I've loved it. That's awesome. And you're right. Like track. I mean, you mentioned the different disciplines, just like the different bodies of humans there. It's like, you know, you'll have again, like you go look at somebody shot putting versus somebody running the 5,000 and 10,000 little, little, little different. The thing I've always wondered about track and is actually, I mean, let me, let me preface this with the actual most amazing thing is I just like can't believe humans can do these things. But the part that it impresses me the most is does no party get distracted? I think we sometimes notice it when we're watching, when we get the full aerial view of the stadium and oh, there's a race going on and somebody's throwing a hammer or javelins involved. Is there no party that's running on the track and someone's hurling a javelin, like a thousand miles an hour? That does it? I know you're used to it. But that is the part that always boggles my mind is how do you not get distracted? We would never like, I hate playing in a hockey arena where I could hear a whistle from another rink because there's five pads in there. I'm just blowing away that you guys don't get distracted by it, quite frankly. It sounds so cliche, but it's truly like the world just turns off once the gun goes. And I've heard Andre de Graz say this about, and it's funny because I think about the difference between a distance race and a sprint. So I've heard Andre talk about, you know, the gun goes off and his race is less than 10 seconds and all he hears are footsteps. And that of course is going to be the loudest stadium noise for any event, right? The men 100 final. And he's like, I don't hear a thing. And I would say it's pretty much the same thing when I'm running, you know, a 1,500 meter for me takes about four minutes, a 5,000 meter takes about 15 minutes. That's a longer time to be out there, but you're so dialed in. And I think for a lot of us, we've trained ourselves to not waste any mental energy. So you have to just focus on truly being so present in the moment of every step. Because as we saw in the men's 5,000 meter heaps, one step wrong and it could be disaster. So you just have to be so dialed in that I've never noticed any of that other distraction. I will say at these games, there was a cameraman filming the women's javelin standing on the track. And that was, I mean, that's distracting when they're just physical impediment. Yeah, it's kind of wild that you can just like, you know, the most distracting thing was having an empty stadium in Tokyo. Yeah. It's just so different, right? It's so different. I won one global medal and it was at the Commonwealth Games in 2014. I won a bronze in the 1500 and the race was in Glasgow and they love track and field over there. So it was, you know, not quite as big as Paris, but 45,000 people cheering their lungs out. And I didn't hear anything like I was so dialed in and in Tokyo by contrast, no one in the stands. So it's more distracted there, I think. So it's just funny how you sort of get used to these different stimuli and I know our Canadian athletes and parents have just been soaking up the environment and performing pretty well overall. What did you, what did you say your average or rough time is for the, for the 5000 meter? What did you, sorry, would you say that was? My best is 1459. Okay. My, my personal best for the 5K that I do twice the summer. And by that, I mean, I just like, I should probably run is 2350. So I got some work to do. Hey, that's solid. Good. We'll go for a run. We'll set it up. My, I don't think you want to see that. A little gangly and it might offend you, your, your, your athletic sensibilities to be perfectly honest, Kate. My, my 5000 meter is done really fast because the only way I'm doing it is in a car. So I give both of you credit. No, I actually, Matt, you have done it. It's just an increments of one meter at a time from couch to fridge, 100% back and forth. 100%. That's right. We got to build up that endurance. I got to get my steps in. I, I chase around a toddler now. So I do get a little bit more steps in. Not as many as I need to more agile, though. It's not so much straight line speed. Yeah. Do the quick cuts involved in dadhood myself as well. Kate, I really, really enjoyed this chat. I've been loving your work on the Olympics and like, I don't know when you fit it in. Get some sleep and enjoy it because we're in the home stretch here. Thanks so much, guys. And make sure everyone teams into yeah, last three days of athletics and it's going to be a big few days. Great finals coming up. So thanks much for having me. Yeah. Can't wait. That was an awesome conversation. I really enjoyed it. For Canadian Olympian and athletics broadcaster for the CBC. Just look around. Find a good story. Sometimes we get cynical in sports. It's kind of hard to do that at the Olympics. We'll find a way like, you know, there's the people we get cynical about the LeBron James of the world. Sure. You know, I'm sure I'm sure someone's found a way to like skip Bayless eyes. I know a Lyles take that they're annoyed by him or something. I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it's out there. But with so many of it's just go, go, go pick an athlete. You'll find an amazing story there. And you can hear the, the respect. They all have for one another. And it is interesting. It's funny. It was the actual funniest thing that jumped out to me there was her being like, I'm embarrassed to admit, you know, I don't know anything about hammer throw. He played hockey a long time, right, Matt? Yep. You know what the Goldie's doing back there? Generally speaking. No, no, we don't. We don't. And we don't care. Just stop the puck or don't or whatever. It's like, I understand that's a team sport, but she's like, ah, this shame I have and not know it. I'm like, look, I'm, I'm proud of you for knowing about it now. But you know what the best part about that is is she's an analyst and an athlete who's been around it. Right. And she says, I'm embarrassed that I don't know enough about it. And yet, you know, Johnny Hammer throw on Twitter knows everything about it and just started watching it 20 minutes ago. Oh, God. There's nothing worse than diving for this where we all are just like, big splash. No, no, no, not good. And the synchronize I do think is kind of easy because it's like, look, they're lined up or they're not. Those are the ones we could be experts on. Hammer throw. I think it's a little, a little tougher to know what you're getting into there. Again, lots going on at the Olympics. We're going to continue to talk about it again, primed for an exciting few days of athletics here. It's also time for the wake and write presented by sports interaction. Your home growing sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly, Orioles and Jays back at it again tonight. Kevin Gossman on the bump going against Dean Kramer, I always think he sounds like a, like a movie star from the 40s. He really does sound that way, Orioles are slight favorites, 115 on the Moneyline Blue J's minus one oh five total in this one is nine over plus one hundred under minus one 20. If you want to get greedy Orioles minus one and a half, it's one 45 on the run line there. Do you have a lean on this one, Maddy? Yeah. Kevin Gossman doesn't pitch very well at home. So I would, I would lean. I mean, we were perfect yesterday. We were. Why not continue that again? I'm going to go with the, with the Orioles on the Moneyline. I would even be comfortable taking them at minus one and a half. If you want a little bit more juice on the run line plus one 45, um, I don't know about the total tonight. Yeah. I'm just staying away from that. I feel comfortable that like yesterday I was pretty comfortable today. I'm not so much. I'm going to stay away. So I would go Orioles Moneyline or the run line. Yeah, that's exactly how I lean as well. Gossman's had a really weird up and down season, but as much as there's been downs, he's also had two complete games this year, one of them weird being a shout out. So I certainly wouldn't want to touch the total if he's involved. So yeah, give me the Orioles minus one and a half. He got that a plus one 45 and that was the wake and rate presented by sports interaction. Your home growing sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly yesterday. We heard from the man atop the blue Jay's podium. Well, not ownership, but you know, as high up as, as a, as the front office goes there, Mark Shapiro speaking yesterday, what should we make out of it? I mean, we can read anything into it, but what should we read into the comments yesterday? We'll talk to Shai Davidi about that. And then later on in the final hour of the show, Jason Boek a lot going to join us. Our friend Boek's going to talk some hockey in the summer, but coming up next blue Jay's ship. Hi, roast peeks. What should we take out of it? Shai Davidi joins us next fan morning show on Sportsnet 590 the fan.
