[MUSIC] >> Fastball hit well right to you. Over going back, leads at the wall, it's gone. [MUSIC] >> His 10th homer in the 20 game streak puts the Blue Jays back on the board. It's 5-2. That's the second time in the last 10 days or so it's been a triple order single away. He's as good as anyone right now, really. I mean, I can't really say much more than that. He's been the same guy at every single day and throughout this last couple weeks, it's just been, it's just been upon to watch him. He's not giving that bats away, you know, and I think that's what separates good from great. You're watching a really great player, kind of, figure something out right now. [MUSIC] >> That bad boy, there he is, John Schneider. I guess he only talks about wanting to have a beer after bad things. I don't know, have a smoke and a beer and watch highlights of Vladi last night. Seems like a pretty good idea. 10 homers, a batting average of at least 500 in a single 20-game span. Vladi becoming the second Canadian to do that since 1901. Larry Walker on that list in 99. Other guys that have done that again, 10 homers and a 500 batting average in a 20-game span. You tell me if this sounds like a good club to you. I don't know, maybe you're picky. Chipper Jones, Larry Walker, Frank Thomas, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Fox, and Rogers Hornsby. When we were making Rogers, not Roger, but Rogers with the first name. >> Yeah, that was a weird one for first name, but if I had a good club, you like that? >> I think all of them are Hall of Famer, so yeah, that would really do it for me. Also in that street, 22 extra base hits and the team record for consecutive games with a hit. Do you know it? >> I don't. >> Sean Green, 1999. >> Oh my God. >> With 28. >> I was talking about Sean Green the other day because my kid is on this big kick of just tell me about stuff. Just like I want to know about dinosaurs. Give me everything you got and then I don't know that much. As I try to transition to like areas I know, I'm like telling about Blue Jays and I'm like, hey, baseball, you like that, we'll talk about that. Just tell me, tell me some guys from when you were a kid. >> I love when I used to do that to my dad. >> Oh my God. And let me tell you, I just was talking about Sean Green and I'm like, it was so elegant out there, long strides, big power, fast, felt to me as a child, 700 feet tall. He felt like what I imagine kids think Aaron Judge feels like now. Yeah. It's just awesome. Like it is funny that those blast from the past names and I could do that for him. >> And then traded for a criminal. >> Yeah. >> Roll him on to see. >> Funny how that works out again, like there is a lot to talk about regarding the future of the Jays and we're going to do it and we'll talk to Ben in a second here about some of that. But I also think you just have to sit in the moment with this stuff. I don't want to overstate what this means in the grand scheme of the things on the season. It means nothing, but I also don't think you can kind of skate past a moment like this regarding Vladi and what he's done right now. So that's as good a time as I need to bring in 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, our insider today, the one, the only Ben Nicholson Smith, Sportsnet, MLB Insider and Blue Jays reporter, as well as co-host of the @TheLettersPod. Ben, how are you doing this morning, man? >> Doing great. Good to talk to you, Brian. How's it going, guys? >> Doing well, doing well. I personally would like to thank Vladimir Giro Jr. for just giving us a reprieve from the constant questions about tomorrow and giving me an excuse to kind of sit with the moment right now. You know, there's been a lot of things that have gone so wrong with this Blue Jays season. Me and you have talked about them many times. I'm sure we will again before the season's over. But I also just think if you're going to be someone who is a fan of sports and specifically a fan of this team, you just can't look past this moment and kind of appreciate how truly scorching hot it is and not everything has to be a referendum on the future. What does this mean? I am imploring people to just enjoy what you're seeing from him right now. >> Yeah, I like that take. I think that's a good way to look at it because, you know, it's pretty rare to have a player that's this good doing this kind of thing on a baseball field seemingly every single night. You look at the heading streak that he's on, even if you just zoom out to the season numbers. This is exactly what people hope, the flag rarer Jr. could be. I mean, his 2021 season was obviously an incredible year and right now what he's doing isn't that far off from it. I mean, the home run pace is going to be lower, but you look at the overall production, you look at this production in the context of, you know, an offensive environment that's been really, really tough on hitters this year, what Vladi's doing is incredible. He's so clearly the best player on this Blue Jays team, and you're right, there are bigger picture questions here, but it's also just worth enjoying what he's doing. This is an incredible player in his prime, seemingly enjoying it, having a good time with it. And, you know, when I talked to Jay's fans, I get the sense that people just love flag rarer Jr. I mean, this is, you know, I've got, you know, whatever it is, you just hear anecdotally from people who watch this team every day and people, people love this guy. He's so fun to watch a straw poll of the tee ball team I coached this year. They all want to be glad for what that's worth. So there you go. Um, you know, it's funny though, Ben, because that wasn't necessarily the narrative surrounding him, right? Like there are a lot of people that were like, huh, do you really want to sign him to an extension and what's that going to be worth and, um, you know, how much does the position play into that? And it feels like a lot of that is forgotten now because while he's been arguably the best hitter on the planet over the last month and a bit, are you surprised at how it's changed or, or are you more surprised at how it was so negative for so long? Because everybody was expecting that, that, you know, almost MVP type season where he lost out to show Hay Otani during the, the COVID year where everybody was like, well, that's got to be the expectation. Do you think part of, you know, why people are liking, they're on the Vladi train again is just because they've kind of tempered their expectations and, and this feels like, yeah, this is a great run, but we're not going to expect that MVP type season from him every year. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, I guess it might feel again like found money because it's not like he's done it every single year. Um, we've all known it's in there. And I think the disappointment that Vladi faced, um, at times unfairly, but at times understandably and fairly, I think that was connected to knowing how great his potential was and knowing what he had done in, in the major leagues. It's such a young age in 2021 when he hit 48 homers and almost won the MVP. I mean, that, that set the bar high and it should set the bar high when you do that. Um, that's, that's not unreasonable to think that he should do good things. So yeah, I think it's been a little bit of a rollercoaster ride for Jay's fans and probably for a black girl or junior himself to an extent, um, when it comes to the last few seasons and, and what we've, we've sort of seen from, from Vlad, Jr, but you know, I think to some extent that sports where you're going to have these big reactions and these big swings and you know, it wasn't that long ago, like I can, I can dial the clock back maybe three, four months and, you know, people are kind of grumbling that Vlad Jr doesn't, you know, doesn't necessarily run ground balls. They're hard enough. Certainly don't hear that now. I mean, this guy, you know, he sees them in a great year and he's, he's got to preserve himself. And, and he does, and glad junior plays really hard too. There's no question he plays really, really hard when he plays like just like put it there, right? Like, I'm part of this as injury stuff and like Boboshek couldn't have made a decision to have played in more games this year than he has, but I think you also have to just give Vlad credit for that that he's just there every day. And don't worry, Ben, that guy who is screaming about the ground balls, his rip tort would just be, well, he's not hitting any now. So it doesn't matter. See, everything goes to the wall and you don't have to worry about running it out. So those people will find a way to always, always, always feel anyways, like they're right. I do want to enjoy the moment. I do want to appreciate what we're in right now. I think the other thing that allows at least from my perspective us to do that is that the idea of the contract, I don't know, maybe people feel differently about it. I don't feel like the price goes up every time he has a good night. And I think the biggest reason for that is that Juan Soto, quite frankly, is probably going to box him in with whatever he gets this off season. I don't think you're going to be eclipsing that. So I think that's the other thing that leads into my opinion of like just enjoying this moment, however long it lasts, because I don't think this is a performance that even quite frankly, if it continues another month and change is going to change the price all that much in the grand scheme of things, or maybe I'm off base in that. No, again, I think that's actually pretty fair because we know that Vadgaro Jr., he's not going to be in the Juan Soto territory if he signs an extension with the Blue Jays. Let's say at some point between now and opening day, for a couple of reasons. One, Soto's done it at a higher level for longer. Two, Juan Soto will be signing as a free agent. Vad Jr., if it is an extension with the Blue Jays, it won't be in free agency. It would be negotiating with one team. So yeah, I agree. There's probably a cap there to how high the numbers go. And yeah, I think that on the low end, Vadgaro Jr., you can't compare him at the same time to a Madeline Center, Freddie Freeman even, or Pete Alonso, when he ends up signing crew first baseman, because those guys have been in their 30s when they signed, and Vadgaro Jr., is going to be 25, 26 years old when he hits free agency. So it's just, he's going to be in a position to get a huge contract. I actually do think that $300 million has to be in play if their Blue Jays are serious about extending him. I don't know if that's going to happen. That's speculative, but I don't know where this all ends up going. But yeah, I agree. I don't think that we're talking about a situation where he hits five more home runs, and the Blue Jays fans should be scared of something. I think it's a good thing if Ladgero performs well. The whole Vladi narrative, I look in and say, okay, what does this all mean for next year? Because I'm going to get a little doom and gloom. Sorry, Brent. Sorry to ruin your morning. But I'm going to get a little... Dad, it's okay. I'm going to get... My weekend starts in an hour. Hard to ruin it right now. I'm going to get a little doom and gloom in that. Okay. When you look at this recent stretch that Vladi has had over the last 45 games, he's batting averages over 380 as 16 home runs in this stretch. Like he's been, he's been again, one of the best hitters, if not the best hitter on the planet right now. And the team is 20 and 25. And I understand there's been a lot of change over in all of that, but there's still so much work that needs to be done for this team to be competitive. And one of those things has to be, well, you should be getting Vladi signed to an extension at some point. When I look at this team and I look at all the things that need to be done, I just say like there's a long way to go to be competitive even when Vladi is having a stretch like this. When you look at this team going into next year, does it not feel like there's just too big of a mountain to climb here in order to make this team competitive? Or do you believe that there actually is a path to relevancy with some, you know, yes they're going to have to make some big changes, but also even some minor tweaks? Yeah, I mean, look, it's easy to look at the team right now and see the problems. And I think that that's a good thing because to solve them, you have to identify what's going wrong. It's not going to be easy. The path is there. I don't know, sitting here in early August, if they're going to be able to make the right moves between now and opening day to be a contending team, but I don't think it's that hard to identify what those moves would be. It's harder to do them, but what they need to do is they need to add a lot of pitching and they need to add a bat to their batting order. Someone to pair with, Vlagro Jr and Boba Schat in the middle of that order, they probably need to be really open-minded when it comes to possible trades and trading away position players for pitching because they need, I mean, yeah, they need a lot of pitching. They didn't have a very good pitching staff to begin with and they traded a lot of it away. And what they got back largely was position players. When you look at their 13 prospects that they got back 11 of those guys are hitters rather than pitchers. So, yeah, they need to get a lot of pitching between now and opening day. If they get it off of it, then they could be a contender next year. I think that's very fair to say, but saying it and doing it are two different things. So I don't know if it's actually going to happen. Yeah, it'll be fascinating to see Ben, especially with the pitchers, you feel like you need a bunch of them. So you're kind of forced to throw a bunch of things at the wall, whereas with the bat, it does feel like, again, not that you only need one, but it's like you for sure need one impact one. It'll be interesting to see how they attack that again. That's a future problem. I'm just enjoying today. Vladi looked great last night. The Blue Jays beat the Orioles in a series. What's not to like? It's Friday. Like, honestly, Ben, just let's be happy today, all right? This is one of the more positive fan 5-90 interviews that I think has done, honestly. But I like it. I mean, Vlad Jr. is doing great. There is enough time for negativity to say that we can't talk next week and just dive in on this team. Yeah. But yeah, I actually like the take. I think Vladi is doing great, and I think it makes sense to actually step back and just enjoy that promo. In this business, people tell you to save the rage on the opposite. It's like I saved the positivity, you know, every once in a while. I got to bring it out. Ben, really, really appreciate you jumping on with us this morning. Thanks so much, man. Yeah. Anytime. Have a good weekend, guys. There he goes. That 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. Dare I say, I'll be positive on Monday? No, I won't. Because if they don't-- It's Monday. No, no, but yes, very true. Also, if they go and whoop the A's, it's like, whoa, whoop the do. You beat the A's in a series. Congrats. I'm supposed to be so happy about that. You don't beat the O's. That is something I'm very, very happy about. He mentioned there the questions that are going to be had. I do think it's interesting that idea there, the idea of with pitchers, you're going to be forced to go try a bunch of things. And hopefully, two, three, four of them pan out in various different roles. With hitter, it does feel like they'll probably try to pick their spot because, quite frankly, you do need multiple bats, but you need one of impact for sure. Whereas with pitching, I think you can talk yourself into a world where you just need more arms. You don't need necessarily great arms. It's yeah, it's quantity, not quality, especially when it comes to that bullpen, because, and you still need quality in that quantity that goes without saying, but there's just so many that you're almost to the point where it's like, okay, I'm going to try and get as many and hope that a few pan out because that's kind of where they're at because they have so many holes. It's not like if you, if you needed one or two and you can really zone in on a couple of guys that you're like, okay, these are the guys that I'm looking for or guys like that. I don't think they have that luxury going into next year. Even with the rotation, we have no idea what that rotation is going to look like. I say after number three, because I think they're going to end up having to get a four and a five in whatever that looks like, but for the bullpen, it's just like, throw the names into a hat. Here we go. Yeah, I think I don't think this is necessarily the way they should operate, but I think they're confident in who the first four starters are going to be for them next year. I think it's the three guys we've seen the all year long in burrios, Bassett and Gosman. Yeah. And then I think they think of Rodriguez as that, as that fourth guy. I don't think they want to promise it to him. I don't think it should be in pen, but, and down in Francis, like sorry, that cannot be a part of the conversation at all in terms of something that's expected. He can be your quad a guy. You can be your seventh starter on the rotation. You could definitely do that there, but that's just not a way you want to head into the season. Blue Jays heading to the end of their season, we're heading to the end of the Olympic Games. I can't believe it. It's always funny how fast these things go by, very, very pleased to be joined by our next guest, Perdita Felician, Canadian Olympian and world champion hurdler working as a CBC special analyst for the Paris 2024 Games, also the author of a best-selling book, Perdita. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. How you doing? I'm doing well. How you doing? I'm fired up. I'm fired up. We're, you know, I always like to joke and I'm sure there are plenty of other athletes and other sports that say, hold on. That's not how we look at it, but we have the swimming half of the games and the running half of the games. And I got to be honest, I love the running half just a little bit more. I'm so excited by everything that's been happening on the track. I mean, there's been a ton of great Canadian stories. I do want to talk to you about kind of the big news of, well, not today, but last night yesterday afternoon, Noah Lyles picking up a bronze in the 200 meter with COVID. I don't like getting out of bed and making myself like a lazy breakfast when I had COVID. I could not think of running a 200 meter. Never mind doing it better than just about everyone in the world while doing it. Am I giving enough credence to just how incredibly difficult that must have been for Noah Lyles? You know what, you know, it was incredibly difficult, but, you know, the coworker that comes to work with a cold and you're like, why are you here over my keyboard, dude? Not wrong. Not wrong. Yeah. And it's absolutely impressive, let's be frank, it's not what he came there for. It's the exact same result he got in 2020 when Canada's Andre de Grasse beat him and he was stunned. So he didn't come here for bronze. I question his, if you have COVID, you have COVID, serious virus, you have it, but I question his need to announce it seconds after he lost and anyone that watched that race, you'll notice that when he got to a track, he was jumping around bouncing around, which is typical for him, right? Look, the pageant tree, you know, the peacocking, I call it, he does a lot of that. So like, oh, wait, you had COVID, but you, you were still strong enough to like jump around, jump around. And so I felt a bit of the releasing the COVID news immediately after was a bit of a like to dull the sting. Oh, this is good. I like this take for you. This is good. Yeah. It's a little too convenient after you, after you do not win gold. And, and, and this has, you know, wide ranging effects afterwards, like he's not going to be competing in the men's four by 100. Jamaica not being there is also a shock, like Brett and I were talking about this. I don't think I, I don't think we've ever seen a time where both the Jamaican four by 100 team in the men's side and the world's fastest man in that year at the Olympics is not in the four by 100, which me to me looks like, Hey, prime opportunity for Canada here in the four by 100. Agree or disagree? Oh, I don't know if you guys are ready for my takes, man. I don't know. We are. Let's do it. I can assure you we want them. So with our relay team, they've had a really, so there's Aaron, there's Brendan, there's um, Andre DeGrasse and there's Jerome Blake, they've had a really tough time in their individual events in the 100 and the 200, none of them qualified for an individual final and in fact Brendan Rodney, who runs our turn and Aaron Brown had to go to the rubber straws shows anyone's not familiar with that. That's when you don't make it into the semis, they give you an extra race to see if you can qualify. This is brand new for the world championships. So we've never had that. You often see that in other events, in combat events, in rowing events, you'll see that. So the fact that they had to make it into the semis, the rubber straws was a little bit concerning to me. They should be able to get into semis. Also Andre after not making those two finals did say that, look, I've been kind of battling this, this high hamstring injury. And when I run the turn in the 200, it actually bothers me. So when you have three of your four athletes, and Jerome Blake didn't make it in an individual event, when you have three of your athletes who are the world championships champion to the four by one from 2022 Olympic silver medalists from Tokyo, it was hard for them to qualify. I think they might have qualified in eight. They only take eight to the final. I am, I do have concerns for them. And I think it's going to be really tough guys for them to win a medal. If they snag a bronze, I think that will be a goal to them, to be honest. Hey, I'll, I'll take it quite, quite honestly, there's never been somebody running faster end to track that's had a medal around them wearing a Canadian bib that I haven't loved ever, every second of this is kind of a weird one, but I saw somebody point this out to me and now I can't unsee it. I understand when people go run like, you know, like the Boston marathon or something. It's like, you got to get a bib number. I get it. There's like a million people involved here. This is the Olympics. These are the absolute best of the best. Why do you have to wear a paper bib on you? We can't like get that embroidered or something with your name across it. It is, I've seen this pointed out to me now and I can't unthink of it. It's like, I understood why we did this many moons ago when it's like, okay, you're different jerseys or whatever, but it just seems like something and this isn't a Canada thing. Literally everybody has to do it. Am I nuts that I, that it bothers me now that you guys are wearing the paper bibs or I don't know, maybe they're not paper, maybe they're a different material, but it looks like a piece of paper, just a stapled pin, whatever it is. Am I nuts with this opinion or have you not wondered, yeah, why can't I have Felician like embroidered in my, my uniform? You are bang on. It is tacky. It is cheap. It is giving 1900s, we're in a 2000 modernizer system, give them an embroidered, something give them a chip, whatever it is that you have to do, spend the funds to update. Because it is tacky, honestly, I'm 100% with you, it's also quite annoying. We also have to put like these sticker numbers on our legs and sometimes they fall off and they fly off when you're racing and then the officials hold up the race to put it back on you. Like it is, I can't, I've been retired for like 13 years, 13 years, oh my goodness. And I can't believe they're still doing that. It does. It feels like, especially now with modern technology, it does kind of feel like your Saturday marathon that you just get your piece of paper and your tag and off you go. Like that, that is, it's a very good point. It's worse. It's worse. Have you ever went to the seafood house and they give you the little plaque and you just didn't feel like a big baby? That's what it's giving. Yeah. It's not, it's not maybe very hungry. I know. Thank you. And honestly, I'm so happy because I saw this and it was like a non-track person. It was just, you know, someone like me, a layman who had this opinion. I'm so happy that, that you're in lockstep with me on this. We talked about the men's 200. I don't want to shortchange our ladies. Four by 100 into the final there. That's national record setting stuff that they were able to do. You know, it's, let's just be honest, it's part of the way it goes, especially with, you know, where the medals have been for Canada and the sprint events as of late. There was a lot of focus on the men's team. I don't feel like the women are really getting their due and I think that's continuing right up to today, race day here for the four by 100 team on the women side of things. Yeah. The women never get their due. It's when I was racing from 2000 to 2013, it was the exact same thing to the men's program that gets more of the attention. But yes, the bigger story here truly is what you said, like our four by 100 meter women have broken the Canadian record to make it into a final, which is huge for this quartet, right? And the other thing is Olympics is about performing under pressure on demand and whether or not they win a medal here, you know, which will be pretty hard for them. I think this is, this is huge and it says them up for LA 2028. The size that they were able to deliver this kind of performance wouldn't matter to punch a ticket to a final isn't huge. Also like, like, not just, you know, a hockey nation, a sprint nation on you to grass. We are a throwing nation, even Casberg, just one, you know, we're champion, the hammer, Cameron Rogers, also one Olympic title rather in the hammer, like this is massive. When I used to run, you have one person that was the household name or the name for track and field. Now we have a complete fleet, a complete supporting cast. And that to me, I have to give, you know, as much as I've been complaining, I have to give, I have to stop the athletics Canada, the governing body of track and field in this country because they've actually modernized their system, right? So they've actually done some things to put our athletes in a position where we can have multiple medalists, multiple personal best and national records set because these athletes have been able to set up to perform at their best when it counts. So is that how much of that is funding as well? Because, you know, we, it's Sarah Minton also going for a shot put medal today. Like this has been a really impressive performance for athletics by the Canadian Olympic team. Like, do you just point to funding? Is it coaching? Is it just having the right people involved? Like, like from the from the hammer throw specifically, like Dylan Armstrong was a gold medalist for Canada and, and now he's coaching and, and he's Ethan Katzberg's coach. Like, is that part of this where you have the athletes that are, that have been involved and they're staying involved? Is it funding? Like, what is it for you that is the reason why we've had this additional success in athletics? Yeah, it's like, you're asking me the right question. So it's multi-prong and like, shout out to Dylan Armstrong. My teammate on like multiple Olympics, like multiple world championships. So yeah, he's a shot put champion himself and now coaching Ethan Katzberg. So seeing that kind of generation pass it on is quite impressive and a good buddy. Great, great buddy. After he's done something, he's great to congratulate, first to congratulate you. So I think it starts with obviously the coach and the athlete doing the work, getting up every single day and do what matters, right? That that's the first, that's the priority. But it really is new, Athens, Canada has modernized its system, meaning it used to be a federation where as an athlete, I was on the national team for like 12 years, which is three lifetimes for track athletes. You're lucky to get one Olympic cycle. So I really saw how they've evolved, they've modernized their system. So before you never really knew where you stood with the federation, you didn't know your performance metrics, what we're supposed to hit, like it was kind of always murky. Now it's completely clear, there's complete transparency and open communication between the athlete and the federation. That takes away a lot of the stress and the strain. There's also three national hubs across the country. So things are more centralized, right? If you need to get an MRI, you don't have to wait in line per se, you can right away, hey, go to a hub or get information you need to get an MRI right away to diagnose an injury. So for psychology, you need that here, get this. So I feel like they've really upped into the system. So now you've taken away the stress, the strain, the pressure. So the athlete, right, who are the core, the center of the system can do the work and do their job. And now we're seeing the results. This is a long time making, by the way, seeing them able to have themselves. Also AC went and got a man named Simon as the one who got a man named Simon Nason, who's their high performance director. He used to be in Australia, how great they are sports and before that, he was at UK athletics and we know how good they are sports. So he is really the person who's like, this is how you do in Canada? No, like, let's revamp this thing completely. And I think now you're seeing those kinds of results. And yes, of course, it is funding and all those things, great, wonderful. But at the end of the day, it's the federation knowing what they need to do and the athletes doing what it takes. Yeah, boy, that's a conversation we've been having a lot across many sports. And in this country, part of a much bigger conversation, Perdida, really, really appreciated the time this morning. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, guys. Anytime. Yeah, there she goes. Perdida Felician, Canadian Olympian and world champion, hurdler, of course, working with CBC as part of the Paris 2024 coverage there. Again, Canada already picking up a medal bronze on the water in a canoe kayak this morning. Plenty of medals, more up for grabs today, including the women in the four by 100 meter men as well. Relay finals, a great tab, both of them there. It's just kind of crazy. Games coming to a close, like I'm going to come in here Monday morning and it's going to all be over. We're going to have a gold medal hoops game that again, we talked very precious little about it. Incredibly exciting. Except we finally saw yesterday, but yeah, it's just kind of, it's always funny an event like this early on. It can seem like, oh man, there's so much runway ahead of us and the blink and it's gone. Yeah. And then slow summer starts. Yeah, we've been very, been very fortunate because we've had so many things go on this summer. And with the J's being, you know, what the J's have been, yeah, it's, it's been a nice breath of fresh air. The summer Olympics, even the winter Olympics, they're all, they're great. And, and don't say even like, like you don't like cards on the table, love the winter Olympics more. No, I, I, you know what it is. I mean, I, I mean, especially because hockey with the, the NHLers is, is back. Yeah. That's going to be the same. The mayors, my friend of the show, Jason Demers in the eyes in 2022 didn't do it for you. I mean, I wasn't, I wasn't following as much. As Sam McKee was. In punching, yeah. Because there's nobody that loves Canada, hockey at that level, just talking to them. It's like me and McKee often. Yeah, I guess that's true. Spangler cups. Yeah. Okay. So that's true. So both of you on equal playing field here. But I mean, the summer Olympics just provides something because I don't know for whatever reason I just, I attach myself more probably because I'm more available to watch the events. That's it. And I think that's, that's part of it. The time change sometimes sucks and I feel like it worked out pretty well though. It's been okay. The, the one thing that I will complain about is I just feel like I don't know when things are on and that's been a, a kind of a, an issue that I've had because I'd like to watch some of these things. But I do feel like I do miss out on some things as well because honestly, I'll just flip on the channel and then be like, okay, this is what's on and that's it. Yeah. I think that is always a thing with the Olympics and again, like for whatever reason, it seems like team sports. I think part of it is that the timing is just more set. It's like the game is going to start at this time. Whereas the individual events or the athletic events, they can be kind of spread all over the place. Just like the NFL is. It is everywhere, anything all at once. That's the NFL in our world in 2024 Sam, a, a, a show going to join us next coming up on the other side. Get you set for the NFL season. We saw some NFL preseason last night. Whoa. Good. That Joe Milton looking good for the Patriots. He's slinging that thing. Watch out. AFC East. We're coming back. Almost certainly not. But last time, what do you think? It's on the other side of this. You can use that sports step five night of the fail covering the blue Jays from an analytical perspective. Jay's talk plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download Jay's talk on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Like I said, NFL season, it truly never stops. I feel like we stopped talking about it like up here, up here in Canada, we give ourselves a little reprieve from the NFL for month and change. Except me. Except me. No, I know you're a sicko. I know. But you know, like normal humans, like even as normal as we get in this business, I was going to say, even like we give it a rest. You are locked in all the time. But I think this is definitely the time of your people are maybe starting to get locked in as a little too strong a term. People are awakening again to the NFL, remembering what happened. There's always so much turnover in that league from year to year as well that even if you're a again, like diehard fan of a team, you're probably sitting here looking at training camp rosters going, who, what? That guy's on the, we, we got him here, man. Exciting. It is an exciting time in the NFL. Who better to join us to talk about it now than Sam H.O. NFL veteran linebacker. Now ESPN analyst and author, and I have this on my lineup. So it has to be true. All around good dude, according to my producer, Sam, thanks so much for jumping on with us. How you doing this morning? I'm doing great. I love that last, but last year on the lineup, all around good dude. Okay. We know all the sides, but I'll take it. I'll take it. Hey, you know, my producer, Jeff has lied to me occasionally, but not often. So I'm going to, I'm going to believe him on this one. We'll see how we all feel. You know, at the end of this, this interview, I always liked this at this time of year, especially when I'm talking to somebody about the NFL, just throw it wide open. What's got you most interested at this time of year? I don't know if it's a player in a new situation. I don't know if it's a team you're kind of keeping tabs on, but what is the most kind of interesting NFL storyline right now to you, Sam? The most interesting storyline for me is what Jim Harbaugh is going to do for the L.A. Chargers, specifically in regards to their physicality. L.A. has been known as a soft football team. I played nine years in the NFL when I first got in. They were called soft when I left. They were called soft. Why do I say that? People always talk about the powder blue jerseys and okay, they got this, you know, Philip Rivers, pretty guy, you know, all this things like, okay, they want to throw the ball around the yard. But when you're physical with them, they kind of back up. And so that's been the M.O. for the Chargers. Well, Jim Harbaugh is the antithesis of soft. Go back to his time at San Francisco as the head coach of the 49ers from 2011 to 2015. I know that because I played for the Cardinals during those four years. They were a power run the ball down here right through your face kind of team when you went to Michigan did the same thing. Blake Horham set records at Michigan. I mean, even JJ McCarthy was a quarterback at Michigan, who just got drafted into the Vikings didn't have that many pass attempts last year. And so my point is, oh, by the way, the first round picked it overall, not a quarterback, not a receiver and offensive lineman named Joel at another day, six, seven, three, 30. The least sexy guy ever, like just as stock alignment ever. Yeah. Correct. But that's what Jim Harbaugh wants to be. He doesn't want to be sexy. He wants to be physical. He wants to be dominant. I think he's going to change the, the, the order in the AFC West. I got, I got to ask you about Jerry Jones, uh, you're a Texas guy and there's something about Jerry Jones that it's just like, okay, Jerry, there's sometimes where you just need to be quiet. And yesterday was asked about, is there any urgency to get a deal done with CD lamb before the end of training camp? And he basically said, no, I don't see the rush to which CD lamb responded to a tweet by just with an LOL. I don't know about you, but I look at this offense in Dallas and I say, okay, I like Dak Prescott. I think Brandon Cooks is fine. Jalen Tolbert looks like he's going to be pretty good, but they ended up just, they're big signing offensively was Ezekiel Elliott. And their best playmaker is not in camp right now. This feels like it's setting up for a Dallas kind of, uh, rejigging here of this roster. Um, do you not feel that there's at least a little bit of urgency to get one of the best wide receivers into the lineup before the preseason ends? Are you with Jerry and saying, now this thing will get itself figured out. Well, it depends what you mean by urgency. Some people see urgency and they say, I got to get it done today, tomorrow. Jerry Jones says, okay, well, week one is in 28 days. We have about a month until the regular season starts. And so yes, there's quote, unquote urgency, but also Jerry's a showman. I know that because I spent time with him as other NFL, I'm still living Texas. So I ran into him. I think once or twice. I was on the NFL players association negotiating the collective bargaining agreement, one of the vice presidents, and I was there with some of the executive committee from the NFL, meaning Jerry Jones. And so when he's got this month after month and for about a year and some change, spent time across the table with him, listening to him talk, seeing how he thinks he's got a way about him where he says, okay, it's not one thing, but it may be something different. So urgency for him may be, well, today, tomorrow, you may say, you know what, I know exactly what CD is, exactly what he can do. He has a great report, our quarterback, I'm not going to make a rash decision now, I'll wait a week or two or three. It's preseason. It's training camp. I get that we need it, but I'm not trying to completely overplay, overpay if I don't have to. Yeah, I think that makes a, I think that makes a lot of sense. I kind of sticking in Texas with the Texans, you know, I would argue the hardest thing to do in sport is come in as a rookie quarterback and look as good as CJ Stroud is. The only thing harder is following it up the next year when people have a season to tape on you. They went out and got him a sexy new toy there in Stefan Diggs. Obviously you love having another option to throw the ball do, but is there any worry at all about disrupting the seemingly just natural chemistry he had with his offensive weapons in the first year by bringing in a guy in Diggs who obviously, and he isn't shy about it. And with the talent he has, he shouldn't be. He wants the rock. Do you worry at all about the way that chemistry kind of shakes out in the Texans huddle? I don't. And the reason why is this? Stefan Diggs signed a one year deal. So who's a multi year deal? And it was like, man, I got it. It's going to be my guy and my team for many years. It'd be different. But the reason why a one year deal matters for Stefan Diggs is actually outside of what many, many, many things. They think, okay, one year deal, he needs a ball. One year deal, he actually has to get some kind of chemistry with the team and show the team or show the world, show the NFL, the order 31 teams that he can not only star, but also fit in and help a team win. I joined you in Buffalo last year, there was a, he wasn't getting the rock as often towards the last seven or eight games, but that's when Buffalo went on a winning streak. A lot of the focus went away from Stefan Diggs and he was more of a team player. Now that didn't help him because he said, I want to go somewhere else. But if he could prove in one year that, okay, yes, I'm still the same caliber player as I was, but also I'm a player that's going to help my team not only go to the playoffs, but when Super Bowls that'll either make the Houston Texans say, hey, let's resign you to a longterm multi year, $100 plus million contract, but we saw Justin Jefferson get, or even as we saw Tyree killed us get recently with the extension or, or maybe another team sees him and says, you know what, the Texans campaign, but we're going to pan because this is the talent, but also the ability to help our team win championships. When you look at this Texans team, they, they had a plethora of cap space. They've made some big moves, both offensively and defensively. They have, you know, for my money, CJ start coming off the best rookie season we've seen from a quarterback ever. They've also got, you know, Nico Collins and Tank Dell and they brought in Joe Mixon's, the Von Diggs and Dalton Schultz is there. Can you make the case that the Houston Texans, and this may sound premature, but I just really love what they've done with their team. And that's coming from a Bills fan. Can you make the case that they are the second best team in the AFC? Absolutely. And not only can I make that case, I believe that the Texas are the second best team in the AFC. And it's not just because of the offensive weapons that you just named. It's also because of their head coach, D'Mico Ryan's, who knows what it's like to win. That's what my brother played in Philly as well. And he played with D'Mico Ryan's for a year when D'Mico Ryan's was a player. D'Mico Ryan, as a player, was coaching. He was coaching the young guys on the team. Well, fast forward, you know, it's history. He went to San Francisco and was a defensive coordinator for one of the best, if not multiple years, the number one defense in the NFL knows what it's like to experience championship level football. He came to Houston as a first-year head coach. And I know this because obviously I watched it, but I ran to him a couple of months ago, or maybe two months ago, I was talking about this. And I said, "Man, were you surprised at C-Day Stroud and your early success?" He said, "No, I wasn't surprised because I get what it's like to be a player and to win. And now I don't believe in rebuilding," quote unquote. Yes, I'm happy and I'm excited. Of course, you never know how a quarterback is going to do, but we came in with extremely high expectations and we coached him to that. It's called a pigmanly in effect. When teachers believe in you or coaches believe in you, you actually can play up to that expectation, up to that level. And so I believe, I think the D'Mico Ryan's that is coaching staff believes. I think that the players believe, and all of a sudden, all you've done is you've added weapons on the offensive side and the defensive side with a coach, who's a defensive-minded coach that knows how to slow down or take down some of the top dots, i.e. the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC. Yeah, it's certainly an ideal building block. And yeah, I mean, we talk as much about C-Day Stroud hitting the ground running. D'Mico Ryan's pretty good job of that as well. How much do players buy into training camp or preseason hype? Because I mean, like we being myself guys who didn't play in the NFL, we're very susceptible to it. Like I'm watching the Patriots last night, Joe Milton's throwing it around all over the place. I'm like, I don't know, maybe that Drake may. Not the guy they wanted. I'm kidding, of course. But how much do players buy into it? I mean, we all know there is no better resume in any sport than the tape, what you can put on the field. And you know, I imagine guys reps in camp, you think one thing, but a guy goes out and does it in a preseason game, I would imagine players take that a little differently. How much do you guys kind of buy into some of the preseason hype you can see from guys on your own team? We buy into the hype that we can see, but we also buy into the hype that most people don't see. What I mean by that? Practice. So the games are great. The preseason games are great, but we see these guys day in and day out of practice. Joe Milton, for example, looked pretty good yesterday. But if I haven't been in Patriots practice, but if I were one of the players on the in New England, and I saw that Drake made, let's say wasn't looking good in practice, and then Joe Milton was looking excellent in practice in the preseason game and came and Drake made still didn't look good, which in one case, he had like three plays yesterday, right? But Drake made still didn't look good and Joe Milton actually looked at it against different competition. All of a sudden, I'm starting to believe the hype, but I do know that it's the preseason. What do I mean by that? There's a level of play that increases, not just because of the talent, but the sense of urgency that increases when the regular season happens, and that same sense of urgency increases. When the playoffs happen, there's different levels to this. And so that's what I think players see. They say, okay, I see what you did in the preseason game, but man, were you doing that in practice? If so, okay, I'm going to do a check plus. If you weren't doing it in practice, what you do doing in the game, okay, maybe you're a gamer. Let's see if you can do it consistently. That's what we care about as players consistency, not one time flash in the pan type of players. One guy who's not a flash in the pan, but is looking maybe for a new home is Brandon Iuch. I ask you this question, Sam, the team you want to see, not where he's going to go. The team you want to see Brandon Iuch on is blank Carolina. I don't know. Okay. That was quick though. That was quick. You meant it. Yeah, I do because I think mainly because Xavier Laguette and I got the rookie like physical specimen, this dude's a receiver, but he's about 6'2", 6'3", I ran it. I was with him at the NFLPA deal a couple of weeks ago and probably about 220. I mean, it looks like about 220, like build. So you have that and there's a social question marks with the receiving core of Carolina. And as you add a guy like Brandon Iuch, a true number one receiver, so now all of a sudden you have weapons. They got it. They got a tied in in the draft. They got a running back in the draft. Jonathan Brooks out of Texas, Jotavian Sanders out of Texas, and then Bryce Young. Going into year two, struggled last year. All of a sudden he gets in there and has weapons. Carolina team that's been at the bottom of the NFL the last two years. Now all of a sudden they have true building blocks, young talent at receiver and experienced veteran Laguette, experienced veteran who can help them win now and also help with Xavier Laguette. And also that division, NSC South is not a lot down anyone's going to win it any year. That can help Carolina be successful. Yeah, it'll be fascinating to see that's a wonderful thing about this type of year. We got a lot of questions, very few answers and we're about a month away from starting to get them. Say I'm really, really appreciated the chat and I'll just, you know this, my producer did not lie to me. All around. Good guy. Thoroughly enjoyed this chat. Thank you, man. Let's go. Appreciate you guys. Hey, let's stay in touch. And for more analysis, you'll feel free to follow me at vcmacho.com. There you go. And there he goes. Like I said, really, really appreciated. And if that is a promise, we will keep. We will be bugging you again. So thanks for jumping on. Sam. There he goes. Sam Atcho. Like you said, you can follow Matt at the Sam Atcho veteran NFL linebacker ESPN analyst. That question is always so interesting to me of how much players buy into it. I have to be honest, the hype of preseason. I didn't think he was going to sit when he said it's the work we see that you don't. I didn't think he was going to talk about practices. I thought he was talking about meetings specifically because I would think that would be because, you know, like all these guys play football their whole lives. I've seen guys ball out and ultimately do nothing for teams that they've played on. Maybe they've been that guy at various different times in their career. But I would think the meeting would have been what would have like carried more credence. And obviously some of that is positional. Like I think for a quarterback and batter a lot more, but other players aren't in the quarterback meetings with them. But yeah, that answer, it didn't surprise me, but where he went with it did. Yeah. The other thing is too is, and I would even take it a step further than what Sam was saying also is I wonder about like joint practices. Where like it's one thing to go up against teammates. It's another thing entirely. And it's what we don't see is going up against other teams in a practice controlled setting that a lot of people don't see. I mean, we saw a fight between the giants and the and the lions Kirby Joseph thrown bombs at Malik neighbors. Why you would punch a guy's helmet. I've never understood. That's one of life's great. It's one of life's great questions, especially a football helmet. But that's where it gets intense and the intensity in those joint practices. The reason why there's fights is it gets ramped up right and less so in a game because it's a more kind of I don't want to say it's a more controlled environment, but it is different. And when you see that and then it translates like we've seen from some guys, that's where it does get a little interesting. Yeah. No, that's we love the joint practices there and I'm not defending what he did. I'm just saying if you're going to do violence with a helmet, do it miles Garrett style, not punching the helmet, that feels just smart again, like I'm not saying that was good that he did. Although it did lead to one of the funniest pictures of all time with the Steelers quarterback who Mason Rudolph sitting there without the face mask on on his helmet again, like he's probably concussed and could barely think. But that is one of the funnier sports pictures we've seen in our time. No one no one's ever looked more concussed well upright than than he did with that helmet on there. All right. That is quite honestly as good a note as we're going to possibly have to end the week on. Got Blue Jays back on it today. You got a couple four by 100 meter relays got a gold medal basketball game. Of course, Kevin not involved in that. We got that coming up on the weekend. It's been a fun week. Thanks to the guys behind the glass and Armand and Azo. Marquesi, thanks to you. It's been another edition of the fan morning show on Sportsnet 590 the fan. Good morning. [MUSIC]
