[MUSIC] >> Fan morning show sports at 5.9 in the fan band. And it's Brent Gunning, big day for Rushman Danny yesterday. >> See it's free of Kirk Cousins. >> I thought something happened with the Davis Cup. >> No, I just like that, I close my eyes and you're right to go Vikings. But I did go Davis one of two things. >> Yeah, and it was the other thing. >> It was the other thing. >> Kirk Cousins on the verge and agreeing to in principle, a $180 million four year deal with the Atlanta Falcons, that's 45 million per season, 100 million of that, 180 million is guaranteed. At last check, Kirk Cousins was limping off the field with a torn Achilles tendon. >> No, actually at last check, I saw him crawling on the floor with his child stepping on his Achilles going. >> Watch Daddy's Achilles and this is post Achilles tendon. That one just hit very close to home for me. >> Yeah, he's gonna be 36. >> Uh-oh, and he's also notably Kirk Cousins with one career postseason victory. But now guaranteed to have at least $330 million in career earnings. >> Legend at the bank, Brent, how should you feel if you're a Falcons fan who do exist, I guess, and you got Kirk Cousins helming the ship for the next four years. >> Yeah, all six of them will gather round and figure this out. No, obviously the Falcons have a lot of fans of Atlanta, but I feel like it's a classic fan base that all of their fans hate them. Like they're like, God, these bums one day. >> Well, and it's like for a league in which there is, listen, I guess if you don't have a team like you're in Toronto, you clom on to another team, right? And you're able to follow all these teams. It's very much a national sport where baseball tries to be and hockey tries to be. And it's these ten-pole marquee games in the week that everyone's supposed to pay attention to. >> Yeah. >> That only happens in the NFL. I just, I know Jaguars fans, I don't know a lot of Falcons fans that are not from Atlanta. >> Well, I think, no, I think you, you're right. I actually, I know a Jaguars fan as well, and I have to stiff-arm my son from becoming one. He's like, oh, the Jaguars, so cool. I'm like, I'm like, no, you're guys, Josh Allen. I don't know how well that's gonna go for you, but better than being a Jags fan. But I, you're right. I think that, I mean, I'll just put myself in the shoes of somebody who once loved A, Atlanta Falcon, and as Mike Vick, like, and I just think there were all the people who did glom on, like they had that guy and we don't need to relitigate all of that. But I think that that is a big, big part of it as well, and just kind of a sad sack franchise 28 to three, losing the other Super Bowl is what it is. But in terms of how they should feel about Kirk Cousins, fine. It's not a, this is a team. Look at the window. They're, they're in right now. And I know it's the NFL and everybody's window can turn around in five minutes, you draft the right quarterback. But are they gonna trade up to go get one of those guys? It's not to say they can't, but if they're not gonna do that, this is as good a placeholder as exists in the league, honestly, and it's a placeholder that can get you to some form of relevance. And in the NFL, you want to chip in a chair and have a chance and I'm not going to sit here and say Kirk Cousins is like, you know, a capital W winner, but there are plenty more loser quarterbacks in the NFL than him. And I think he gives you a competent floor. Yeah. I think you're in a tough spot as an organization when you're like, Oh, you're just like quarterback shy and you got to turn to the Kirk Cousins of it all, yeah, we'll see. Maybe this is where it's all going to happen for him at 36 years old coming off in a killy stare. Who knows? Time out for our insider who was brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit Don Valley North Lexus.com been too long since we talked to our next guest, Charles Davis, the NFL on CBS and NFL Network. How's it going, Charles? It's going great and to continue what you guys were talking about, add the pressure of a division that the public sees is winnable, no matter which team you are. And one of your rivals who actually won the division, resigning a quarterback who all of a sudden now might be the quarterback in your division in Baker Mayfield. And none of us saw that coming two years ago. Yeah, it's not ideal. That's a team ceiling with Kirk Cousins as its quarterback because we've seen it be one postseason victory, but I mean, is there more there than we've seen through his age 35 season? I think with this Falcons team and coming out of the division, I think it's a playoff win. I don't know that I'm talking about getting to the Super Bowl, even with the Falcons roster, which I think is better than maybe we think. And that's a big reason why getting Kirk Cousins was such a big deal. Big group on offense, more than competent offensive line, defenses continuing to grow and build. Again, Jesse Bates last year helped. And I think that they looked at it internally without trumpeting it to the world that it was a massive disappointment last year. They didn't win their division. It was there for the taking and Tampa Bay was able to sneak away with it, won a playoff game. And then that was all she wrote. And I think that's kind of where we are with the NFC South as we sit here now, but we'll see how everything continues with the rest of free agency and then with the draft and see if things are going to change. But I don't see this Falcons team with Kirk Cousins as a viable contender for a Super Bowl right now. Yeah, I know I'm I'm with you there and I, you know, no one goes into a season saying I don't want to win a Super Bowl, but it feels to be like when you sign up for Kirk Cousins, you're more worried about the floor of your, your organization than the ceiling. And hey, there's nothing wrong with that. Like trying to build something a competent or competent. I don't, you know, have an issue with that as opposed to swinging for the fences. But I also think, yeah, we all kind of know what things are. There's no such thing as friendly teams within a division in the NFL, but nobody hates like the NFC East Charles. Safe while Barkley is now an Eagle Tiki barbers, Yellen Adam about it, you know, this is great. We love rivalries and sports. The Eagles are kind of spinning in a lot of different directions with Kelsey and Fletcher Cox retiring. How did you make of that move and just how nice is it to have? Not that they need any help there in the NFC East, but having say, Juan, go to the Eagles. Yeah. Of course, it's the deal that if you're a Giants fan, you had the draft capital that you spent on them, which was like number two overall. And your hall is really not what you expected, right? Your, your, your team wasn't great. Your postseason wasn't great because your team wasn't great. And now he's going to go to your rival who you deem as one of the better teams out there. None of us can explain the claps at the end of last year, but it's still a roster chock full of talent. So obviously the Andre Swift takes off and it goes to Chicago, I believe. And I mean, it just, you know, there's always moving pieces. And then as you said, no one hates like anyone hates within the division. Usually it's team versus team, but this one is an interfamily, you know, interfamily one with Tiki firing a shot about, you know, hey, you know, what are you doing going to the rival team and then Saquon firing back like, really, you, you stopped playing the year before the Super Bowl and then jumped all over your team and your comments. So it's just going to, it's just going to go back and forth and what have you and we'll just see how it all plays out. But for Saquon, I don't think a fresh start to bad thing for him. And I think it's the right type of team because I think when Nick Siriani and what they're planning on, plan to continue to do on offense, his talents will be exemplified and he'll be a big, big help for Jalen Hertz, right? You mentioned Jason Kelsey subtracted he's huge for Jalen Hertz, right? Had the center handles everything, but Jalen Hertz will have to do a little bit more of that now. So how do you take some pressure off of them? Better players around him. Saquon Barkley fits that bill. Yeah. And obviously, you know, having a weapon like Barkley will help Hertz anyways, but for a team like the Eagles that they were rolling, rolling, rolling, and then everything just completely falls apart. They lose the two leaders. How important is it for them to have that injection of life into the organization? Because you know, I'm not sitting here saying they needed to make a coaching change. But when we were talking about the carousel, that wasn't completely out of the question. And they chose not to go that route just from a, you know, a team building or a team kind of morale standpoint, how important is it to inject something that you should be excited about as opposed to just we're going to get things back right to how they were before? Yeah, I think it's very and to start with that, you've got to figure out what happened last year. Like you have to have that kind of root all that out to begin with and then having new people come in with fresh eyes who don't have any baggage from last season is a big deal. And let's face it, Saquon Barkley is looking to help his own legacy. And I don't mean that in a bad way, meaning he played on winning teams at Penn State. I'll guarantee you played on winning teams at high school, a pop Warner and the whole deal. He started being on teams where he's the focal point and they don't win enough games. All right. He had one playoff season with New York, they upset Minnesota, Kirk Cousins crew, and then got beaten the next round by Philadelphia. He'd like to be on a team that gets into the playoffs and contends for Super Bowl, but now he comes to a roster that needs him. He wasn't there last year, so he can't speak to any of that. He just knows what he can bring to a squad. So I'm with you totally. I'm not part of it, but I think it's the roster and the organization, the Eagles as a whole who are doing the soul searching right now. What got there? And I've said this from the end of last season to right now, someone is going to write the story and tell us all of what happened last year. The definitive what went down with the Eagles signed me up for time to read it because I can't wait because there's no way I can that I can explain what I saw at the end of last season, but at Eagles roster, I have no real explanation. Please, someone tell me what went down. So Josh Jacobs also on the move, he's looks like he's going to sign a four year 48 million dollar deal with the Green Bay Packers, Derek Henry, apparently in conversations with the Ravens. A year ago, we were talking about the diminished value of the running back. Where are we on that conversation right now, Charles? They were still in the same spot in a sense because, you know, we're going, we're going to the NFL draft, right? Have you heard about any running back mocked in the first round by any of us now to do mock drafts? Okay. So, so I mean, it's just not happening right now where we're saying we turn around and do it. I said it a million times when I was a kid running around my, my, my, my lawn in New Paul, New York, I often wore running back numbers, you know, you would grab that shirt of the rough favorite running back that you had and you wear that kids are running around where I'm running back numbers now. They were in quarterback and receiver numbers. Pictures and catchers is what applies. So that's where we are with it. It's the way the game is played. The guys who are getting money, I always tell everybody when you see the number that's broadcast, make sure you find out the number that's guaranteed because that's the biggest number that you're going to have because most guys don't get to the full number. You guys know that, right, they play a couple of years and they're getting released. You never get into when you see a hundred million dollar deal, it's rare that you get there, especially if you see a runner and you don't see a runner get that kind of number anyway. So I think Derek Henry, the idea of him in Baltimore, then they just make nothing but sense guys. Yeah. And if you examine Baltimore and their runners over the years, does that not fit absolutely perfectly what they like to do? The type of player they like to bring in. And by the way, most of those guys find a spark and play fairly well for them. Remember the tavius Murray going there and right on down the line. So he absolutely fits going there. And for Green Bay, that's a big sign in getting Josh Jacobs to go there. I guess H.A. Dylan will be another running back that be looking for a home now. And who knows what's going to happen with Aaron Jones, he can very well land back in Green Bay and be the second runner there. Yeah, I saw that that was that was certainly an interesting one. It'll be it'll be interesting to see how that shakes out the bills. They had quite a big sea chains. I mean, Trey White, kind of the first guy that jumps to mind, but waving goodbye to a lot of veterans. You know, this happens every year in the NFL. I mean, in all sports, but definitely in the NFL, it's hard to keep the band together. And Buffalo's kind of seen that. I mean, their window is going to be wide open so long as Josh Allen is standing upright. So I'm not sitting here saying their windows closing. But what is it like for a team when you see so many kind of key veterans have a have an exodus in one off season and, you know, they're going to have the draft and we're in free agency for them to backfill, but it is going to be a change with some big voices and, you know, throw a player into the mix there, leave in the room in Buffalo. It is and Buffalo is one of those places. Unique's the wrong word because unique really did notes like one of, you know, but it is a special place that players like to play. They love the community feeling. They love the city. They, you know, in terms of how they're embraced. They love all of that. And so amidst the backdrop of all the guys they have to say goodbye to, I looked underneath it and saw how many guys actually resigned with Buffalo, which is like the story that people aren't talking about. Are they going to miss all the veteran guys and the great players? Absolutely. Heck, I'm going to miss them because I identify with them as Buffalo Bills. But underneath, Dion Dawkins resigned, AJ Epinecio resigned, you see where I'm going. So many guys across the board, given an opportunity, came back. The unfortunate part is you can't keep all of them to end up losing Leonard Hardy. I mean, you know, he's gone. I mean, Leonard Floyd, he's going to go to San Francisco, Gabe Davis is going to go to Jacksonville, Mitch Morse is going to go to Jacksonville. I know it's Jacksonville side and all these bills. I guess they wanted to get warm after being in Buffalo for all this time. But that is the other part, when you look underneath it, given a chance, a good number of guys have resigned. The guys who are not, who are being let go, that's a Buffalo decision that we're not going to reach you at this price. Now, can some of them circle back perhaps? But right now, they're saying we're going to go in a different direction and move it forward. I love the point you made. If Josh Allen is there, the window is open. Remember Joe Burrell said it's in Cincinnati and we all kind of, well, that's exactly right. If you have Josh Allen, your window is open and other people will want to come on board and play with him. Yeah, I need a quarterback and the Chicago Bears had one, but they're going to have a different one as they're going to select Caleb Williams first overall. By the way, Charles is a mock draft available on NFL.com right now. So Justin Fields is going to be shipped out of town. We think, right? Like the market for QBs and trade is maybe... Hey, I'm glad you said that. Well, because... Well, I mean... You're right. You're right. The Falcons were this obvious landing spot. Is anybody going to pony up the type of draft capital that the Bears, I'm sure, would have loved to have recouped for Justin Fields. And if you're not doing that, I mean, can you survive emotionally having fields around and being the backup or maybe the starter to begin the season or like just a straight up competition? Can you have those two quarterbacks on the same roster? And I think that's what Chicago is evaluating because in a lot of ways, their hand was played before they wanted to play it as soon as they got the number one pick again, because all of us jumped in on it. What are you going to do? Are you going to get a new quarterback? I mean, Robert Justin Fields, that's the story of the day every day, right? So Ryan Polls is the GM, is having to evaluate all that. And then every other GM around the league knows that he's not in a great spot. If you want to get rid of him, you want to do it before a free agency because quarterbacks are going to land so you don't have all the draft capital. So everyone sat back on him. You notice, no one made a big play for Justin Fields, Justin Fields is still in Chicago. So your point was perfect. We think, but guess what? What if Chicago still looks up, as you said, and says, hold on a second, we spent a first on this guy. We moved up to get it. If you'd like to get more back than what everyone's offering now, you've got to take the temperature of the young man, understand who you're drafting in Caleb Williams, who's running your team, who's running your quarterback room, and decide for yourself, can this work if both are there? Because you might do better next year. You know, we're doing that as opposed to where you are right now, and you had your bets a little bit with a rookie quarterback. So it'll be interesting to watch what actually goes down in Chicago, but the landing spot seemed to be drying up, don't they? Yeah, they were told to say, weren't going to get a quarterback, and everyone got Russell Williams. Russell Wilson. Okay. I'd never believed him when they said they weren't going to get one, but Russell Wilson actually fits what they do and fits what they want, where they want to go as an organization. So that makes sense, but all the spots for you could send Justin Fields and he would be a starter. It's getting harder and harder to find those places. Yeah, it certainly is sticking with, well, part of the quarterback carousel is the draft. And you know, it's funny. I'm a Patriots fan Charles for so for a long time draft weekend rolls around and I go, all right, we'll see. Probably not going to like much from here and the team will be okay. That hasn't been the case lately. And all of a sudden, yeah, all of a sudden I got to pay attention now. Forget my Pat's fandom aside though, I love a sexy draft with quarterbacks at the top. I mean, we have one guy who seems to be clear atop the pecking order, but just kind of wide brushed thoughts. What are your thoughts on this QB class with Williams and Dre and Drake May and Daniels and you can even throw like a JJ McCarthy or a Pennics junior into that? What's your thought on this quarterback class? Are we going to see some new lifeblood coming into the NFL, which all of a sudden isn't exactly starving for quarterbacks like we mentioned, a guy like Fields might not even be able to find a home. And I'm not saying he's the answer, but a lot of people would have taken a flyer on that in a, you know, half a decade ago, even it feels like. Yeah, great point. Look, this, this quarterback class wouldn't, wouldn't stun me if six went in the first round just by the nature of the beast. As you said, they're not starving, but quarterbacks are still that commodity. So the sixth one, as I see it in my mind, could very well be the guy that someone comes back into the first round and gets so they get the fifth year on the contract to work with that, that wouldn't shock me. I think at the top of it, without any crazy shenanigans at one, two and three, I'm just saying I'm mentally, telepathically sending messages to all GMs don't overthink this. You need a quarterback, we have three right at the top, boom, boom, boom, take them. That's my, that's my sense. One Chicago, two Washington, three new in one. This is not the time to play a heck of a lot of games. I mean, by the way, what's your alternative if you're number, if you're the second pick and the third pick, what veteran are you bringing in that's better, better idea than starting over with rookie head coaches and a rookie quarterback? I don't know that there is one. So to me, it's Caleb Williams of whatever order of Jaden Daniels and Drake May goes one, two, three. Yeah. That's just how I see it. And then four is going to be really interesting because we're thinking JJ McCarthy is probably the fourth quarterback, but does the process begin at six with the Giants? Does it begin that high? Potentially. The Falcons, they signed Kirk Cousins, but does that mean that you're absolutely out of the quarterback market because Kirk Cousins is a stop gap? 35, 36 coming off of an Achilles, does that mean you turned out a quarterback there at eight? I don't know that you do. And then who's going to make the move to come up and get someone Minnesota is an obvious talk discussion point because Fran Tarkington is not walking back through that door, is he? Okay. So who are you going to start right now, Jaren Hall? That's where we are. So so it's going to be a fun one to watch the shenanigans are about to begin. Yeah. And let's see who's bold and let's see who's making deals, but if I'm at one, two and three, I'm not making any deals. I'm picking the quarterback I like and I'm going home. It is a 12 month a year sport, the NFL, despite the games only fitting into like a six month window. It never ends. Charles, always a pleasure, man. Thanks for this. Hey, thank you. I appreciate you guys. Take care of yourselves. Yeah. You too, Charles. Charles Davis, NFL on CBS, NFL Network are inside or brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom visit Don Valley, North Lexus.com, the 2018 quarterback class is the one that I'm thinking of, right? Yeah. Where there were what five quarterbacks selected in the first round, Baker Mayfield goes 1-1, Sam Darnold goes 3, Josh Allen goes 7, Josh Rosen goes 10, chosen Rosen. And then at the tail end of the first round MVP in Lamar Jackson. And yeah, there's, there's efficiency throughout the, I mean, Baker Mayfield just re-upped, okay? You can't say that his career has been an absolute dud. Hey, Sam Darnold, there's apparently a big climber for Sam Darnold as a backup quarterback. And he's not even seeing ghosts anymore. Yeah. Josh Rosen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Josh Rosen was the outlier there. He's does not happen. Yeah, I got a career. Can I give you a quick take? Yeah. I still think you give him a shot where someone actually lets him play quarterback. I mean, we don't need to relitigate chosen Rosen's career here, but he goes to Arizona. They immediately trap Kyler Williams or trade into Miami and I don't know why they trade it for him. Because they said, we don't like you. You're not playing here. So I'm not saying he would have been good, but just a classic like circumstances matter so much for all these guys, right? It's just, it's so funny how, how, how much, how many resources are thrown into understanding and making this decision by these organizations and the bears selecting Caleb Williams and hey, maybe Caleb Williams is that guy. He cries though. So I don't know. But it's, it's very possible that, you know, it's a JJ McCarthy or somebody else that is selected in this first round or maybe somebody outside of the first round that ends up being the best quarterback in this class. Yeah. Maybe, maybe it'll be the guy who's dead last in the draft. Maybe it'll be him. Probably not. I mean, I'm going to go around a limb and say, I've seen the last Brock party of my lifetime, Mr. irrelevant. I mean, I saw Tom Brady become the greatest quarterback of all time. And then within my same lifetime, I saw Mr. irrelevant go to a Super Bowl. I refused to believe it gets a do better than that from the dead last spot. Yeah, you think because of, well, one, the amount of information that everybody has and the technology to evaluate these players, but yeah, that that's also existed with Brock party and it's just, I mean, they're human beings. They're human beings. All right. As mentioned, Blue Rodeo hits Budweiser stage on Saturday, August 24th, along with guests Matt Mays and Begonia. So excited about this, by the way. And have you inquired about getting your own tickets? I will be inquiring with our boss after this very show. We are giving away tickets in today's show, Brent, not eligible to enter for a chance to win Tex in today's code word, blue to 59590. Again, that's a blue to 59590, giving away another pair of tickets tomorrow. But if you don't win with us, make sure to check out and secure your tickets on Friday 10am on Ticketmaster.ca when we come back at Narn Burke gets a division rival quarter, our running back for his Eagles, the Saquon Barkley going to have some interesting match ups a couple of times a year over the next four years. We'll talk to him about that. Talk to him about Joey Votto. Talk to him about the Oscars. All that and more next as the fan morning show continues. Ben N N N is Brent Gunning, sports at 59590 the fan. Good morning, show sports at 59590 the fan, Ben N N N is Brent Gunning, Blue Jays back in spring training action this afternoon at one o'clock and who knows whether Joey Votto will make his spring debut for the J's this afternoon. He was taking some hacks in the cage yesterday. I also saw that he was struck out by former top Blue Jays prospect, Blue East Pardinio, or sorry, Eric Pardinio. Just for the record, you could have powered through that, it would not have fact checked you. Yeah, no, he was struck out on like three pitches, but it's early days and it's, listen, you know what matters less than spring training baseball is the baseball that happens, intra squad version on a back field, but yeah, unless it was Alec Manoa start last year with the 17 year olds, let him up that matter, no doubt we're going to be parsing every single bit that Joey Votto has this season mentioned it in passing earlier that Jeff Blair talked about the off season interest that the Dodgers may or may not have had in Boba Shat and we heard the Cubs involved in discussions with the Blue Jays and you know, talking about training for somebody is different than actually having a back and forth and things going down the line as far as trade possibilities, but the Dodgers are in this weird spot where they have this $11 T bazillion dollar payroll and like just the other day they're like, oh, we have a new shortstop and it's the guy that we're just moving from right field to second base. Now we're going to move them all the way over to shortstop because Gavin locks can't throw across the diamond, probably not an ideal situation. If you're a team with again, all the money in the world devoted to your payroll and expected to win a world series that you don't have a shortstop kind of an important position. Now far be it for me to doubt mookie bets to do anything in this world. That's a tough ask when you when you have already, and I know he like basically started as an as an outfielder, but initially, like the reason he's playing second now is because initially that was part of the toolkit when he came up and then you're really good at outfield. Why don't you just stay out there so he can do everything. But even this is a tough ask for moosey mookie bets to be your everyday shortstop is the, you know, aged player or aging player that he is, how, how you can build a team. And I understand part of it is they just take what's available to them. You can go make trades, but it's also take you what's there. But yeah, I don't understand how you leave, you know, it's not like it's shortstop's an important position right like that. It's like, Oh, yeah, right shortstop or, well, I mean, they had Gavin locks, but they, they were not impressed with his defensive lack of capabilities at least during spring. All right, let's talk to Adnan Burke, our pal, how's it going Adnan? I'm doing great. Ben Brankery. If you're back with you guys, just got back from Florida. A lovely tour of spring trainings. I got to do the Oscars as we all should from Miami rather than Los Angeles. Okay. Well, it wasn't quite the red carpet, but whatever. And I did finally get to check out Dunedin. So, um, the way that my tour went was Red Sox and twins are in Fort Myers, Florida that I drove up a little bit to Port Charlotte for the Rays and then clear water in the Phillies. I did not realize very close a stone started to need. So, yeah, 15 minutes I was there, watch the little Jay's Yankees. So, how did Dan show them that Joe Siddle? It was great. Had an awesome time. So, what day was that? Because the Joe, Joey Votto stuff happened on Friday. Was it after? Was it post Joe Votto? No, it was that day. So, the game was at one o'clock and, uh, somebody had texted me actually while I was at the game. So, the Jay's just signed Votto. Like, wow, it's cool. They did it for you. Had to be a reaction. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. They did it once I was there. But what I found most amusing is the park is beautiful. I don't think it's very big, but it's really nice. And show them what's telling me the facilities down the street are just amazing. Whether it's the experience of the train facilities, but they still had poutine available. So, I was like, oh my God, I mean, I just have to see what Dunedin Florida poutine is like. Now, let's just let you, exactly. Let's just say, no, you don't like in Canada, okay? Yeah. It wasn't quite, it wasn't quite craft cheese curds, but the cheese was not, not the strongest from Wisconsin dairy cheese. It was, uh, it was pretty rough. I've had poutines made with shredded cheese before, and that is offensive to me. So yeah, I'm, I'm kind of sad. Yeah. That sounds gross one because it's, it's poutine made in Dunedin. And two, like I don't really, I think a poutine is a winter food. Like I don't, I don't feel like sitting in the, in the scorching hot Florida sun eating a poutine. I've been to that ballpark though. It is beautiful. Um, but yeah, to the Joey Votto of it all, like I, I've been obviously very intrigued by maybe the, the, the second best Canadian position player of all time, signing with his hometown team. He's been pretty awful last couple of years. There's no debate about that. He's 40 years old. This is a minor league deal. Is this anything more than just a curiosity, do you think? I love your honesty, man. Good for you. Cause I, I saw the other people were like, oh my God, you missed me so pumped. And I'm like, I didn't take a deep breath. Like, okay, listen, I adore Joey Votto. All right. And our old buddy, Gurdie Paoloalia was a high school widow. I was like, I, I, and Gurdie, tell us, listen, Joey's the best. I'm hitting him here and they're like, no, I don't mean to derail you, but like now, now that you raised that. So I used to Gurdie Paoloalia, a great morning show host here on CHFI. He and I used to do a show on Rogers TV back when that was a thing. It was a sports show. We had Joey Votto on and he pulled the strings of being his former high school classmates. So yeah, no, I, I have the deeper deep Joey Votto connection as well. You should see the awkward exchanges between Ben and Gurdie Paoloalia as we leave the studio each day. It's like, sometimes it's a high five. There's sometimes like a negotiation about it. So yeah, there's a lot of Gurdiep in, in our life. And Brent, I thought Ben was going to say Ben and Gurdiep used to do a show and I used to be the guest on the show. That's right. That's why I first met Ben. That's right. Honestly, I forgot that you were on the show. It was great because I came on. I remember, I think Gurdiep used to be his friend from Woodbridge and I just came on talking flyers. It's actually, I hadn't been at work for the hell is it? Anyways, Votto, listen, he said national treasure. Okay. I love his social media presence. I love the fact that you're up to Canada, but you nailed it. He hasn't hit much. Are you kidding? Like, there's a reason why it took until March, so anybody wanted to sign up just because he's a future Hall of Famer doesn't mean it's 40. He's going to be the magic elixir to help this day's offense. And as we all know, they already have options when it comes to lefty VHS day and lead Daniel Volklbach, all of which is to say it's great for PR. It's great for the social media, at least for the next few days. But I mean, even I was humbled when I saw the headline, minor league deal, like that's where it's come to and credit to Joey to not being arrogant about it and say, no, I just want to play. I want to give it a shot. Obviously I'm from here, but very cool to play for Canada's team, my hometown team, and I hope it works out. Now, he still has some power. If you look at his numbers last few years, he can still hit the ball deep, but he has not hit for average. And even his volunteer batting eye, you know, even if, you know, when you're hitting 320 and you have a 400 on base because he's such a great batting eye, that's one thing. But if you're hitting 205, even if you draw a walk, which you're on base is still at 300, which is still, you know, middling to Italy. So I hope it works out, man. It feels it's more of a PR move, I'll be perfectly honest, but I hope he throws you wrong. I hope he crushes and I hope he can be great, at least for a season, you know, the best case scenario, maybe 200 or patch, 22 home runs, it's like 240. Like if you can get that at a joy bottom, I do thrill. Yeah. I mean, Ben's been laying it out that the kind of test case for it is Brendan Bell, right? If you can, you know, and Brendan Bell, a good season for this team last year, but there were stretches where he wasn't as helpful. There were stretches where he was hurting. That's kind of what you would best case scenario hope to get out of them. You know, I'm sure you saw ESPN had their top 100 come out bow and flatty, just two spots apart on the list bow ranked at number 33, Vladi ranked at number 35, you know, the way we were kind of talking about this is how, you know, local perception and national perception can kind of vary so much. If you ask most Blue Jays fans to list the top 100 players in baseball, I think there'd be a bigger gap than two on the list between bow and Vladi right now. And hey, might be different, uh, chasms of the fan base that are different segments of the fan base that have them listed different ways. But what do you make of how those two guys are kind of viewed, uh, across baseball right now heading into the tail end of their team control? Excellent use of chasms or definitely going next level today in the morning. But I think also when you look at that, yeah, you look at these guys, it kind of goes back to what happens is that people lump two things together, meaning if you look to the Astros of a certain era, you would just say, okay, the killer bees and bees, you would bag well, and then just no matter what any list was, inevitably they'd be close together, even whether or not they should be in talent. So to your point, I think, right, you're right that they aren't necessarily the same guy. They shouldn't be that close. I think Boba shed, you know, I just have my own list, but he's probably the 10 spot that applied. You look at overall talent of the way up with the last couple of years, but I think part of that is because people feel like body can still be that guy, like, you know, he went from a one 60 OPS to two years ago to 117 OPS plus that's passing. So he's still above average here. You know, maybe there's something in the middle. Maybe he's at 130, but he's at 135 or 140, but there's still people to say, she's your fan base. You've got two of the top 35 players in baseball, at least two of the top 35 hitters. That's still something. But I think honestly for the J's to really propel themselves further and to really make some damage, those guys have to feel like top 20 players in baseball, right? Like think of the Dodgers and again, I know nobody can get the Dodgers when you have three of the top five players in baseball, and even prior to a ton, you could argue. You know, the Yankees have that with judge and Soto, but that's really what you aspire to be. Of course you want depth, but you want just stars. You want superstars. So it'd be awesome that ball and body can have massive seasons and vault themselves to a place where their names are 18 to 20, you know, to the top 20 hitters in baseball. But yeah, without doing my own list, thinking about that, that feels about right through the 30s, but I would have both a little higher than body. Mm hmm. Speaking of the Yankees and yeah, that offense looks a lot more formidable with Juan Soto hitting on the other side of Aaron judge, but these are the two words you don't want to hear next to each other. If you're a baseball fan and they involve your favorite team, MRI and elbow. That's what's about to take place with Garrett Cole and they sign Marcus Truman. And I guess they're hoping for a bounce back from Carlos. We're done. And but I mean, you look at the spring results, it's hard to bank on that. What are the Yankees without Garrett Cole this season? I thought you were going to be a real smart, I can bet and say the two words you don't want to see if you're based on fan is Carlos Rodon. Yeah. He should have bad. He wasn't right behind MRI and elbow. I thought it was going to be a garbage so done. That was what I thought garbage can next year to your favorite team. Also receiving votes. Listen without Cole, that's a disaster that is a hard attack waiting to happen. If you're Yankee fan, if you say to yourself, or the three guys, we can't lose judge Soto Cole in no particular and probably actually I reversed that or Cole's the number one guy because you go, well, judge has lost time before we're still able to hang in there and didn't make the playoffs last year, but even more above 500. Cole is everything of that team, man. The guy is spectacular. He was number one in every category for the Yankees and overall in the American League. He's a two hundred and in guy. He's a two hundred twenty strike doubt guy. He's in a league and fit. He needs a leader for the other players as well and he carries himself with such dignity and professionalism. He's great with the fans. He's great with community efforts, him and his wife, his family, the guys as awesome as it gets. So I think you're if you're a Yankee fan, you're taking a deep breath, hoping it's nothing serious. And if he is hurt, hopefully it's only temporary, but yeah, that's that's a hard attack waiting to happen because you're right. We're done. The loss. He still isn't great yet. Okay. He's working himself in the shape. I get it. I do think show a lot of an excellent year. I think he's a great ground ball pitcher. I think he'll play well at Yankee Stadium, but no Cole, that'll be just awful, awful news for the Yankees. Yeah. It would be. We were talking about this right before you came on. We didn't actually get your opinion on it. How do the Dodgers build the greatest entity in team sport with no holes everywhere except it? Oh, I don't know. Maybe the most or second most important defensive position in the sport at shortstop. I'm not going to say mookie bets can't play that position, but at some point in time throwing them all over the diamond isn't isn't going to work out. What's your read on that? I mean, they can go fix it. There's always trades to be made, but quite a glaring hole to leave for the team that most people have is a World Series front runner. Yeah, it's interesting. You know, when Gavin Locks first came up, they thought he would be a great start second base then because of necessity with Seager leading it goes shortstop and then they kind of mixed the match a little bit. But you know, it's expecting a lot of locks when he was coming off of a major injury to the starting shortstop. And you're right. You basically have to find some holes somewhere and mookie could be that guy. You know, he he has said that he wanted to play second base out of right field. He likes being involved in the action more and that's it's pretty incredible. Right? Normally you think in light, you go, okay, once the guy gets older, let's move him to the outfield or DH spot, less where in turn his body. Look at tattoos. Young guy. But even then they want to keep him healthy. You know, he was a good defensive source of obviously the host for an arm, but you know, a few too many years. What does it put him in the right field? Where would a platinum glove, by the way, do the best depending on the sport. That's the talent of tattoos. But pretty impressed to go out though, the influence mookie has done. Having said that shortstop in second base is another different skill set. I don't know if you want to do that for mookie. And one thing with the Dodgers is that if that's your only hole, they can feel good about it because you know, they can convict in other ways. But you are right, Brent. There's no doubt about it. When you think old school baseball, strength of the middle, it's catcher shortstop second base center field, other stuff we can figure it out. That's the one spot you really don't want to have be a glen and cold. All right. The Oscars. It felt like the movies were back. Barb and Hymer, what a sensation it was in the summer of last year. How many people were showing up at the movie theater? I just saw the ratings for Sunday's Oscars. They're up slightly, but outside of ratings, it just felt like the Oscars were back. That was a good show. And there were the viral moments out of it. And certainly the ending was a little bit bizarre, but it just felt like the Oscars were back. I didn't. Yeah, I couldn't agree more about it. As I said before, there's been this narrative the last year is that TV has overcome movies at the preeminent medium. And to that, I point out the best TV shows are now gone or leaving, meaning succession. The Marvelous Mrs. Maysle, Barry, Kirby enthusiasm. So there's that void there. Meantown, the movies came roaring back. Christopher Nolan's "This Generation" Spielberg, which is why I was only fitting that Spielberg gave him the best director Oscar, that really makes almost a billion dollars in win seven Academy Awards. Barbie, $1.4 billion wins for best result song. Poor things, which is that Avalon card, critical darling, makes over $100 million that wins four Oscars. And of course, my boy Marty, unfortunately, another O for but killers of Boblin still gets 10 Academy Award nominations and is a great film shining a light on a very important chapter, a very tragic chapter of American history. As for the show itself, I thought, Kimmel's model, I was fine. Didn't take many shots. It was fairly safe. A couple of jokes about the audience drug problem, a predictable joke about Trump a little bit later on. But it was OK. As far as the show is seen as showing up naked, pretty funny bit there. The thing that I enjoyed the most was the previous winners coming out. Again, if you love movies and you love the Oscars, you love the history and the story of the medium. I just gave some wonderful moments. Rita Moreno honoring American Fair was a nice moment. Lupita Niongo was great, great, when her speech was to Dave Andre Randolph, she said, "You wore your grandmother's glasses and the holdovers. We were such a joy to see the world through your eyes and hers." I said, "Man, that is beautiful writing." And really impactful. Dave I was already crying then, and then she wins the award because that there starts crying and you cut to a shot at my man apology of my peers down his face and that's a beautiful moment there. Also, great moment was the great Nick Cage, who's serenaded GMI by saying, and I preface this for those we all know what Nick Cage is about, but this is why it's important. He will do anything for a role. He wants to have his teeth pulled from a movie called Birdie. He wants to get a live cockroach for a film called Vampires Kids. So the way he said to GMI, he said, "Paul, for this film, you wore a soft contact lens, which made you blind for the entire shoot. What I have done so, hell yeah." And he said, "But you did, and we're brilliant once again. Do you want to give like a big, yeah, you look like a big, great, great moment." And I also loved Tim Robbins when he said to De Niro, because he messed up, but in a good way. He said, "Your films in Martin Scorsese, whether it's a violent taxi driver or gangster, are always great, but this role was perhaps your most sinister. You're playing a simple man just to love it, lost in green." And in this Academy Award winning role, sorry, sorry, Academy Award nominated role. But you should win, you should win the ball, there you see De Niro laughing, good moment there. As far as my boy, Pacino, in the moment, we also be screwed up, that you're supposed to say, and the nominees are. But I love the fact Al came back. He pushed to the statement last night going, "No, I was told by the producers that we know who the nominees are all night, do not do that." Now, where he aired is you're supposed to say, and the Oscar goes to... My eyes still made. Yeah. Right. But then they said, they go, "That's just Al Pacino being Al Pacino. He just walks out there, and this is right on brand." You know, one thing about, you know, one thing, nobody loves Shakespeare more than him. So he walked out there, and he says, "Should I do a little Shakespeare?" He goes, "To be idiots." "Okay, I'm not gonna do Shakespeare." Of course, looking for Richard, by the way, great documentary, 1996, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival I saw years ago. Anyways, he jokes he's gonna do Shakespeare, opens the elevator just as I see here, up in my room. It's like, you're supposed to say, and the best picture goes to, but like, "Hey, that's Al. That's why Al wants to introduce it. It's fine." He didn't screw up, so to speak. It was not his fault, but he's not to the nominees. And I was saying it to him, like, I kind of drew the producers. Like, at that point, it's 10, 20, like, I know that America picks his nominee. I know that would be Paul's nominee. I know that I'm gonna win. So I want you to say it's up, but I was actually okay with it. Yeah, I was as well. Yeah. They pepper in the little clip montages of all the best picture nominees throughout the entirety of the show. I didn't think that was bizarre. I just did. Yeah. Not saying the Oscar goes to, and the way he delivered it, and the audience reaction to they're like, "Oh, is he joking? Like, is this, is he actually going to read it?" Or like, "What's happening?" That was just, it was just a weird, off-beat thing. Oppenheimer ends up with seven Oscars. I think the over-under was, like, probably seven and a half. So maybe just slightly below what people would have expected out of it. It feels like, though, and correct me if I'm wrong here, Adnan, the history will regard that fondly. It doesn't feel like we're gonna have some, like, some, you know, some year, 10 years from now, where we're like, "Oh, and Oppenheimer just cleaned up like that?" And I don't know. Killers of the Flower Moot. I mean, maybe you feel differently about that one in particular, but it doesn't feel like that one's gonna age poorly. No, I think you're right, Ben. I think everyone, it felt like it was Christopher Nolan's coronation, and there was a lot of sentiments of, "Hey, I love Marty, but, like, this is Nolan's year. Like, he's long overdue that he's never won an Academy Award." And in fact, hadn't even been nominated, right? Very famous to the dark. That was not the best picture. He wasn't nominated for Best Director for something like Memento, or Inception, Interstellar. So he wasn't nominated previously for Best Director for Dunkirk, but it was nice that he was not only nominated, but, and it's an impactful movie. I mean, I've seen it twice. It's got great performances, obviously. I was disheartened to Killie Murphy one, but I knew it was gonna happen after you won the sex. I would've loved to see him do a lot of it. But he's a great performance, man. That guy's a great actor. If you watch Oppenheimer, I mean, how the hell can you give the movie Best Picture not give it to the guy who plays Oppenheimer, who plays nearly every scene of a three-hour movie? That carried the film, and Downey was an excellent movie as well. So, cool to see them. You're right. I think sometimes you see a Best Picture and you go, "Wow, how did Crash win over Brock Brookback Mountain?" Or very famous Shakespeare in love over a saving private rhyme. But this when you go, "No, like Oppenheimer's a great movie," and people are still gonna watch it 10, 20, 30 years from now. Adnan? Always a pleasure, man. Thanks for this. Thanks for not asking me. Who are you wearing as we do in the red carpet? That's always my most favorite and least favorite moment of the night. Thank you guys. Talk to you soon. See you, buddy. Lovey Network and the Cinephile podcast, Ryan Gosling also, spectacular in his performance. One of our great national exports, Ryan Gosling. Yeah. Canadian. I retweeted somebody over the weekend who had, I think, a very salient point. Ryan Gosling, former member of the Mickey Mouse Club. Sure. Cast member, Breaker High. Enjoyed that show. I asked a chat. Oh, what was that? They were like on a high school on a boat? Yeah. And there was a hockey episode one. And a soccer. Never saw it. Burned in my brain. Never saw it. But yeah, the Mickey Mouse Club, Justin Timberlake, also a cast member, Christina Aguilera, also a cast member, Britney Spears, also a cast member. Got to give it up to whoever that guy was at identifying talent. And maybe there were some swings and misses there. Just talking about the NFL draft here and how an inexact science that is, that's pretty good. More generational stars out of a kid's show to identify those talented children. And here, here is Ryan Gosling, one of the four, maybe the least famous of, of those women. I put him ahead of Aguilera, but yeah. Just to bring it back to sports, that guy is truly the west clerk of talent scouting. That's the guy who the leaf who drafted Easton Cowan for the Leafs, just for that. And I also just googled this because I, you know, like, I know Ryan Reynolds loves his sports. I wish Ryan Gosling was more of like a obvious hockey fan. Like, I wish he was like a good hoser Canadian who was like, I love my blank. I literally searched Ryan Gosling NHL and it's like, he can't even find anything. So I don't know, go be a hockey fan. What's wrong with you? Yeah, you do wonder about that because it's not like he shies away from being a Canadian. I think he's from Kitchener or Cambridge somewhere in, in that, in environments where he's born. Okay, it's close enough a little further along the 401. Throw on a leaf slit, but not that hard. Yeah. But you know what I think the deal is? I don't think he's very visible outside of, you know, promoting his movies. Anyways, I don't think this is a guy that's going on anybody's podcast. Like, like literally never seen him on a podcast, but just smart. If you don't. This is true. Like, if you're trying to continue to have that mystique error mystery, maybe a little bit of an error mystery, leave a little to the imagination. Don't disagree. But having said that, do go on a podcast and say that you love the Leafs because you should do that. That's what I'm saying. It bothers me. It irks me. All right. One more day of doing a show before, you know, you get to talk about a leaf game that will happen. That will happen. Two more days of doing a show before it leaves games. Yeah. Yeah. Leafs and Flyers on Thursday. But we'll be back tomorrow. Boy, will we? We'll figure out a way to talk about the Toronto Maple, there's no question about it. All right. This has been the fan morning. Joe Bananas, Brent Gunning, Sportsnet 5.9 in the fan. Good morning. [MUSIC PLAYING] (dramatic music)
