[MUSIC] >> Mm, fan morning, Joe Sportsman 5.9 the fan man at his brain gunning, that is like that is Captain. >> Can we? >> Can I give an award in journalism to that reporter? >> Yeah, I don't know who that is, but like kudos to them. >> Yes, he allows- >> But what does it start? >> There, yeah, he allows me to, you know, when I was tweeting about this yesterday. >> And by the way, we should set the stage for people that aren't like sports. >> Like what? >> Total sickos and didn't, or Twitter, sports, Twitter sickos. >> That's really gotta be. >> Cuz if you were on Twitter, you couldn't avoid it. >> But yeah, Matt's are really, really bad right now. >> Can't confirm. >> Boy, Ron Darling feels like he needs a vacation a little bit. But anyways, Matt's are bad. >> Who cares, I think that's what he said, who kind of jacked it, who cares? >> 22 and 33 are the New York Mets. They're getting blasted yesterday, 10-3 by the Dodgers in a game in which Peter Lonzo already got hit in the hand and had to leave the game. And I haven't seen the report on that. But this is a guy who is a pending free agent. And if things continue this way, he's gonna, he would think have some value in trade, but not if his fingers are all broke. Edwin Diaz, their closer is awful and also on the injured list. >> It was like from the second that video of the Trumpets went viral. >> Yeah. >> He was never the same. >> Yeah, kinda true. And then in a game that's already lost, Jorge Lopez, who you may recall from one time. And this is before the Orioles became the Orioles. Was the Orioles closer in a real big part of what they were doing in a season in which they could have pivoted and kept him and added pieces. They traded their closer away. >> That's right, I remember this. >> Remember, they traded into the twins. They're like, what are you doing, Orioles? You can make the playoffs. >> They're fine, they knew what they were doing. >> Yeah, anyways, that's the same Jorge Lopez. So he's not having a great day necessarily. And Czech swing call goes against him and he gets into it with third base umpire, ejected. >> Yeah. >> Throws his glove over the netting into the crowd and somebody now has Jorge Lopez's glove. And then as you heard in that clip, he was asked, hey, do you regret any part of this? Met's manager said prior to Jorge Lopez getting a chance to speak. Hey, this is not acceptable, I get it. Like everybody's frustrated, you can't be doing that. And he said, do you have any regrets? And again, we just played you the clip, but I'll reiterate what he said. Nah, on the worst bleeping team in baseball. And yes, again, ask the clarifies said, yeah, I'm on the worst bleeping team in baseball. I'm the worst teammate though, on the worst team in baseball. So it has me thinking, right? Because one, I love it because, boy, doing what we do, stuff like that is spectacular. >> Well, especially in baseball, right? Like it's every single day and it gives us an excuse to talk about something else. God, oh, it's my favorite. >> Really good. And the match like immediately DFA Jorge Lopez, by the way, which means that they have, what, 10 days to either try to release them. Could be a call made by the Toronto Blue Jays, we'll get to that in just a second. >> How would you feel? So Jorge Lopez, not just some guy, right? >> Yeah. >> Just necessarily some job. Or he's been up and down, but the fastball velocity's up. Like he's a guy that can get you a ground ball, and especially for your team. Like, you know, it has one of the worst bullpens in baseball. It could be useful to you. But if you're a Mets team that has any illusions of getting back into this thing, not an insignificant piece of the puzzle. So like if it was, you know, some Genesis Cabrera type that'd be like, oh, no problem. >> Right. >> DFM. Apparently they feel that way about Jorge Lopez because they, before the Twitter conversation was like an hour old, we were seeing reports that he was being DFA'd. How would you feel if, so I'm trying to think of the- >> The phrasing. >> No, the Toronto bullpen parallel person would be best I can do. And this isn't exactly the same because we have a history and he's a draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays. But like Nate Pearson is kind of that guy where it's like, oh, he's valuable, but like not that great. But like what if Nate Pearson after one of these games said, hey man, I had an outburst like this. And then after the game was asked, hey man, do you have any regrets? It's like, no, I play on the worst team in baseball, and I'm a bad teammate, but this is really bad and it's frustrating because we're the worst team in baseball. How would you feel? >> I think frustrated, but I don't, like it's hard to not just say, yeah, agree, but don't throw your stuff. Like that's the way I want to handle it is like, I think it's hilarious to Lopez through his glove into the stands. I also don't think this is like some fan safety issue where it's like, you know, he's not whipping it in there in '97 with movement, okay, he's lobbing it over. I think that it is hilarious. But when you put it from a Jay's perspective, I would think we would be heartened or heartened that you'd want to see the team taking some type of stance of like professionalism or you need to bring it every day or you can't be throwing hissy fits when things aren't going your way. Because all we have asked for in this Jay's era is like, and I know we're kind of going the other way with bringing back the jacket now, but it's like, hey, can you be a little more serious? Can you care a little more? But that's clearly not a guy who cares. I'm very conflicted in how I would feel about this. If it was Nate Pearson, what about you? I want to say that I'd be mad, but I don't think I would. Right. That's where I'm, that's where I think that's what I'm trying to spit out is like gut reactions like, no, bad, test, test, don't throw your stuff and don't say your team's bad. Even if you, it's true and you're bad, but I don't think I'd get there. I was so there are certain fan bases that are self-loathing, right? Like, I think Browns fans are kind of like, oh, we're the joke, Jets fans. Oh my God. Cubbies forever. Do your Jets fans. The Cubbies forever. Yeah. Yeah. And not so much now. No, no, no. Like before the win. Yep. But like, you know, wish their team would win, but are waiting for the trap door to open. Maybe you can say the Leaf fans are kind of like this. There's a, there's a big, big sack of them. Yeah. Um, and you know what? It's a big, on the Venn diagram, Jets fans and Mets fans that there's a lot of overlap there. True. So this is a team that loves to hate their team. Like again, wishes they would win, but when they lose, they're like, oh, yeah, of course. Of course. Of course. It's the Mets. Obviously. They stink. I was surprised though, to see of the Mets fans that I follow that are notable on Twitter, everybody's saying, you got to get this guy out of here. Because again, like putting myself in the situation where boy, this Jay's team has been tough to watch, not in the last three games, because they got to play the White Sox and they want all three, but like at the worst parts of this season, wouldn't it be kind of cathartic for you as a fan to see your avatar as a player? Feel the way that you feel like, I know there's a different part of it where it's like, you got to be hopeful and you got to be, you got to be strong for your teammates, but I couldn't help but think, man, if somebody, when things were going horribly, just said, hey, I'm horrible. This team is like, we're like the worst human baseball right now. Would I want that guy immediately DFA? I just, I can't find it within myself. No, you're right. Like, if we had the not the get it done league, but the we can't get it done league quote from somebody on this blue Jay's team, like, how would you feel it? It also is, and I know you've like, you've posited this situation with a, with a bullpen pitcher as well. It is different when it's a bullpen guy too. It's like, they really can only control so much. We'd feel very differently about this. If this was, you know, not Pete Alonzo breaking his hand or whatever happened there, but him doing this, it's like, well, you know, you have a little bit more say and how this goes day in and day out than a reliever. So I think that also like adds to the equation of it as well that it's a, it's a reliever. It's a guy who, again, like he's not inconsequential. It's not that he doesn't matter, but the game is by a large headed in one direction, 90% of the time when he comes into the game. So yeah, if he's on the worst team, he's probably going to feel that way. I, I can't help but laugh at it. And yeah, you want to get mad. Like that is the first blush reaction, but I don't know that you, that you would. And I think Pearson is the perfect guy to bring it home. Cause it's like where I went is like Chad Green. And it's a little different if it's somebody like that who just too good, nobody, but it's also he just got here. Like I know he was here last year, Dave Pearson, it's like we would see that as the scar tissue of the whole era and da, da, da, da. Jorge Lopez did just get there exactly New York with the Mets. So yeah, he doesn't have a long history. I just mean like as far as the quality of pitcher where it's like, yeah, if it's a guy that stanks. Yeah. And has no term. Yeah, you just pull the bandaid off and you DFA, which I guess you can make the argument Jorge Lopez has been that over the last couple of years. I mean, there are numbers to suggest that he's, you know, effective enough. And especially on this blue J's bullpen, he'd be a help. He'd be an addition. Would he be crumblin? Yeah, yeah, he's like bordering on. Okay. Seeing how far I could have a close to a compliment I could get you to give him. I don't think his career is over by any stretch of the imagination. Agreed. It's in his early thirties. And this is a guy that's been an effective closer for an American League East team. This is a big prize with the trade deadline. It's not a hundred years ago. No. And no doubt blue J's are going to be intrigued about his availability. Would you go out and acquire him if you were the Toronto blue J's in this era of blue J's them? I don't think you can. This is a guy clearly just frustrated playing on a bad team and he would help the bullpen. I'm not going to sit here and tell you he wouldn't. He's also not going to fix a thing on this team. Like what's what's he worth literally maybe one win that he could change the course of a game over over the course of a season. I think that you're trying to kind of get your clubhouse right or keep it right or however you want to view it. I'm not saying that this guy is like some cancer that you can't bring in. But I don't know. Does he seem like he needs to play for the third worst team in baseball? Does that seem like something that would go particularly well for him or I mean, he can compare the rosters. Yeah, right. Yeah. You can say like, well, okay, you know what, this blue J team is bad, not as bad as the one I was just on. Honestly, if MLB network to like if he is just DFA'd and wandering the wilderness for even one millisecond of time, yes, I need him on MLB network, ranking the bottom half of the field. I want worse, I want his power rankings of or like unpower rankings of the worst player at every position. I want uniforms. He hates. I just want him hating on things. I love it. I need it. Yeah. Please, MLB network. Give it to me. Just add Dan. If you have any power at all. Make this happen. Well done, Jorge Lopez. Great story. And and and the Mets are just a real content factory over the last couple of years with the bachelors or Justin Verlander intrigue, Steve Cohen, so I don't think he's tweeted about it yet. Well, that's it. That's what I was going to say. It's like when the DFA came that quick, I'm like, did uncle Steve make the call? I wouldn't discount the boss. No, I mean, and again, like this is a guy. It's like, you're allowed to hate the Mets. You out there. It's like, but if I paid billions of dollars for something and I'm giving a guy millions of dollars, you're not allowed to like hate the Mets publicly like that. If you're me, it's like, if you're me, a Mets fan, go for it. But if you're Steve Cohen, like why would why would he be above saying get that guy out of here? Oh, dude. No, you usually in cases like that, even when they're egregious, right? And and I as much as I wouldn't hate it, I was a fan of the Mets like you as a front office, you can't have your players saying, Oh, we're the worst team you put together is the worst. And we're really like, there's no hope for us because we're the worst team in baseball. You can't have the show yesterday. No hope is a good thing. Yeah, but it's it's one thing to like feel that and like eventually come around to the idea of him being DFA'd, right? But that's a process like he most professional organizations. It's not like snap decision within minutes, one guy who could make it that's why it makes you think that Steve Cohen put the call in was like, sorry, excuse me. And if he did tweet, I almost feel like it absolves him more because it's like, all right, he got it out there. He like, he tweeted through it. He's all of us. In fact, that if there's no tweet, that's even more telling, actually, in my opinion. All right, Canadian Oh, but anyway, right now at Hamilton, golf and country club, you're there yesterday. I was boots on the ground journalism. Yeah, the pro am and practice rounds record 28 Canadians in the field. This year, we we don't have to talk about Pat Fletcher anymore. This is Nick Taylor did the thing like it longest part of his entire career ends up was the eagle on the what third playoff hole. I can't remember his all blur standing the rain, trying to squint through umbrellas. I was right. You're inside watching it. Yeah, to keep Tommy Fleetwood from winning his first ever from picking up his first ever PGA tour victory as much as Tommy Fleetwood helped with that. Like he was like, I too will pitch it and to make sure I don't win this thing. Sure. It was kind of a war of attrition at times. Yes. Right. Throughout the regulation, 18 on Sunday, and then the playoffs was anyways, he did the damn thing and one of them the most like it's it's Mike Weir, yeah, winning the masters and Nick Taylor, that's really a 73 foot putt in 70 to fit. You're going to say never going to be 72 foot putt and a playoff hole to win the Canadian open. How does that change your viewing experience now that we have that thing we were the most important event in Canadian golf, one by a Canadian in the most dramatic fashion possible. Does that change the way you view this tournament? It does, but it's all part and parcel of what the tournaments been kind of going back to the last time it was in Hamilton's that was in 2019. It was before the pandemic or Rory won that year. The Raptors are in the final. He's holding up a Raptors jersey. He's at NBA finals games in Toronto. The tournament started to take on this field. The ring hole had been in its existence for a few years and it just the way I view this tournament now is with such house money. I used to view this tournament praying that we'd get an interesting winner of like when Dustin Johnson won, I was like, Oh, this is great. Like that matters. It stamps at home. Rory Camila Vijay, or John of the Johnny Vegas going back to back. It's like that does not, that does not mean anything. He doesn't do it for me. He's not doing it for me, but Rory McElroy back to back and then a Canadian doing it with the 72 foot putt on a playoff hole. I just view it as house money that this is an event now that it's not an elevated event. It's not going to be one of those, but it has some stakes. It has a feel around it. And I honestly, I just watch it with such a house money feeling. That doesn't mean I'm not hoping Corey Connors or Mac Hughes or hey, Nick Taylor, go win it again. Wouldn't we all love to see that, but it almost doesn't matter. There has just been such a run of success for this event and being able to overcome all the news that's been dropping around it left, right and center at this event every single year regarding the tour. That's the way I look at this now is that it's it almost is like watching a team. It's almost like watching the lightning after a couple of cup wins where you go like, yeah, hey, like to see another one. But it is such you're in such a better place than I ever could have imagined. I would have been at watching my national open. Yeah, it's funny. Okay. So you bring up you were impartial journalist, except not like a sports radio talk show, but also, you know, we like sports. We have our inherent biases and our rooting interests and following Canadian golf the way we have throughout our entire sports, watching lives like and knowing the people at the whatever the RCGA used to be called off Canada. Now, like this is a tournament you root for it being good, right? Like you're like, ah, just be good. Like don't don't be embarrassing and like it's had to overcome obstacles and like, oh, man, so many years there were like weather interruptions, you're like, ah, that's so annoying, like the one signature event we get in this country with all the sports stars and, you know, sometimes the field not so great and, ah, yeah, could it just be everything come together perfectly for one and it did, yeah, it did and tigers won the event before. So I mean, that was, that was a different incarnation, the feather in the cap of the RBC Canadian Open used to be that when you looked at tigers, top 10 shots of his career, wherever it falls in there, the one out of the bunker to the back, to the back pin at Glen Abbey over the water there, that is forever going to be one of the shots. And now that's still a part of the legacy. It's still a part of what we talk about, but it's not the only thing. Yeah, I don't feel the nervousness around this tournament anymore. It's like, it's, I honestly, so I was looking at the field, let's, let's, I'll just be frank. The world's greatest field. No. You got Rory McElroy, that's sick and you got some other big name players in the fields. I see the gal is in there and, yeah, there's some recognizable guys and obviously Mike Weir is going to be here, but none of that matters. It's almost better. I get, it is almost better that you get the focus on the Canadians, that people understand that it, you know, whether this is an elevated event or not, and you know what, if it's an elevated event, maybe you get fewer Canadians. You're going to have 28 of them there. This is part of the problem. Yeah. But that you're, you're, you're able to overcome that. I don't feel that like, oh my God, it's my little kid playing T ball thing anymore with this tournament. It feels like it, it arrived last year with Nick Taylor's putt. Yeah, it did. Now I just got to be frank, like it's also in a precarious position. The title sponsor, RBC, they signed up a one year extension for this year with the, the RBC Canadian Open and the other event they, they put on the heritage, which is an elevated event. The biggest reason for the strength of field in this tournament is RBC, like the guys that they put on sponsorship deals, be it a full year thing. Like that's why Matt Kuchar's here all the time and like Webb Simpson's been here in the past. And that, so not having them would be detrimental. Now we have no, I, we have no clear path on what the future is for that. But the other thing is, is that with Rory winning it twice, not to say he's going to come here forever, but that stamps at home. You don't want your, like to your point, yeah, it's, it's a little better for the Canadians. If you have a field that is more gettable or there's maybe a little more room for a Corey Conners to be one of the top players in the field or a Nick Taylor and Mac Hughes had when any of these guys, but you also do still need to have it feel like, Hey, part of the story of Nick Taylor winning his playoff is that it was over Tommy Fleetwood, a rider cup or who yeah, like we all think of as a bit of a choker struggles to get it done in the biggest moments. But it means more that it happened over Tommy Fleetwood. So you got to thread the needle and you did mention the, if you did, if it ever was to become an elevated event, what it would do to the national open part of it. I mean, this qualifiers cross the country for people to get into this thing. And I think that's such an important part of it. It's not to say I would never want to see it be an elevated event, but it's definitely something you have to keep in mind if you're somebody clamoring for it. So obviously a huge star turn for Nick Taylor draining that pot. It was like one of the biggest shots in golf last season, end of sentence, not just Canadian open history. He's going to have a huge gallery today. I think Mike Weir is still the, the leader in the clubhouse when it comes to a galleries or not, Nick, they have Nick Taylor, Nick Taylor with Rory McElroy and Taylor Pendreth is there as well. Pendreth had the great land is presser yesterday that he's, he's a little upset that he's playing with those guys because now his parents can't watch him because they won't be able to get anywhere near it. But no, that's still Mike Weir. I have been, I remember being at St. George just a couple of years ago and he just missed the cut. He was one shot off. And I remember walking up 18 a lot, not alongside him, but like with his group and the reception he gets is still incredible. But I think these guys, like it's not just the Canadian open of it all for Nick Taylor. It's like this guy's won the waste management's guys gone toe to toe with Phil Mickelson in a playoff. He is his golf resume. And I mean, we can go back to when he was in the amateur's because the number one am in the world when way, way back when. So I think that Taylor has kind of stacked the Bonafide's enough that he is that guy now. It's like, if Taylor doesn't have the week, then yeah, it's like people do immediately clum on to Mike Weir and rightfully so. Like when I go to a Canadian open, I make sure I'm there on the first tee to watch Weir get introduced and get to see him hit his first shot because it is still a special thing. But I think finally, finally, Taylor has eclipsed him, I think. Yeah, yeah, it'll be incredible to see some of the galleries. Obviously, I ain't going to check it out this weekend at some point. You already went yesterday. Maybe I'll go today. Oh, and last piece of news. This is massive. They I have one on my head right now. They now sell rollpats. I've been clamoring for this for years. Merch tents looking good. No, no last last thing. Shout out to Scotty Sheffler who's who's set free yesterday. Oh, yeah. Don't let's not have Sam McKee on this week. I don't want to talk to him about that. All charges dropped as long as Scotty Sheffler agrees not to sue the Louisville Police Department, which I guess he's like, OK, fine, but I want him to do it. Yeah. Anyway, I just love the copy and like they do make us wear $80 pants and I have to buy them. Okay. God, it's my favorite story. Good stuff. All right. When we come back, we will go to Hamilton Golf and Country Club and talk to Adam Stanley. Sportsnet's golf reporter. Next is the fan. Game show continues, Ben and his Brent Gunning Sportsnet 590, the fan. Dive deep into Toronto Sports and the NFL, the JD Bunk is podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Fan Order 2, Sportsnet 590, the fan, Ben and his Brent Gunning. Yeah. Honorary Connect. Sure. Appealing to fan base there. Hey, non-Canadian talk about hockey. And he did. Yeah, they do love to love to do that. My favorite thing is watching the confused look on golfer's faces when they have a putt that looks like it might come up short and you'll hear a lot of guys in the crowd yell and skate. Skate, skate. Because I do that all the time. Like my putts going to come up short, I'll do that or if I'm like hitting a wedge then need a little more on like skate, skate, I will throw that out there and there's a lot of confused looks and there's also a few hockey sickos out there. Like David Lingmirth is always you see him like with the gallery like, oh, what's going on? What's going on? I was waiting for somebody to bring up David Lingmirth. Thank you. Okay. Well, no, I did. No, I was finally doing it. Well done. Now, man, you're a golf sicko. I know. You wanted to play your game with me. To the to the degree of which like, yeah, there's some guys in the field I ain't never heard of and I was I was throwing down some I wanted to play a game like real or not real pro golfer and yet you were you were hitting on some of these guys that I had never heard of like Lanto Griffin. Yeah. He has like hippie parents. Yeah. Wilson fur. No, yeah. I told you even that one to bridge too far. Yeah, Parker Cooney. I've heard of him. Hayden Buckley. No, I heard of him as well. Well, well done. All right. I would have crushed that game. No doubt Adam Salie has as well sports net golf reporter joins us from Hamilton right now. How's it going Adam? I cannot believe that the first half dozen names we talked about on the first round of the RBC Canadian Open were those guys and number one with David Lingmirth of all of the guys in this field. This is how we started. It did. What a quick start. It did start with a Rory conversation. That's true. That was where it started and he did. He did the definitive let me sneak hockey into the answer here so then that led me to David Lingmirth because I always remember him loving to yuck it up with the gallery about hockey here. Yeah. That's it. Exactly. Well, balls are in the air guys. The tournament is underway. Happy days. Yeah. Good times. That's incredible today. Sam Burns won under after one. Okay. So we talked about this in the last segment Adam that we we don't have to do the Pat Fletcher of it all anymore. Nick Taylor did the damn thing with the 73 foot pot in a playoff at Oakdale last season. Um, two, 72. Wait, I added an extra. You keep adding an extra foot. Think Summit Series. Be a good Canadian think Summit Series 72. All right. Okay. All right. That's what Pat is big as a long fight. Anyways, does that change things, um, as far as vibes are concerned or the conversation amongst the Canadians this year? Yeah. That is such a great question because of the, the buzz unlike any other, you know, Nick Taylor himself. He says the first thing that he sees when he got on the property on Monday was a gigantic mural of him and Dave Markle is caddy hugging. And then the second thing you saw was that moment, um, made into the logo. And it's just like, we know that the 2024 RBC Canadian Open is going to be unlike any other in this kind of modern era for this generation or this group of Canadian golf fans, Canadian golfers, Canadian guys on the PGA tour and et cetera, because of what happened last year, which is, which is awesome. And then you bump that to the fact that there are a record number of Canadians playing in this event in the modern era with 28 led by the guy who won the event last year. And the top six in the, or excuse me, the six that are in the top 100, they have continued to have success because they are seeing their countrymen do stuff. And they're like, I know I can beat him, which means I know I can do that too. So I do think that there's a bit of a floodgates opening kind of situation that's happened here because we've long talked about how we have this generation unlike any other at the top of their games on the PGA tour can win any week. So yes, it was 69 years in between Canadian wins, but I don't, I honestly don't think we're going to go like within five years. I think we're going to have another Canadian win this tournament. And I think it's just because one did it. And as Mike Weir said yesterday, you know, he kind of broke the seal, Nick kind of broke the seal and realized like whether you're on the PGA tour now, whether you're a PGA tour hopeful, you have kind of that shining star moment that you think that you can probably do it too, because Nick Taylor from a small town and now he did the biggest thing in Canadian golf. So why not you as well? Yeah, it's just going to be awkward when like they can't make two guys the logo. And like I'm sorry, the Taylor one's too good. We got to keep it forever. Like it doesn't, I don't care if somebody like drops to a knee and does like a sniper celebration after making a big putt. There's never going to be anything better than the club toss and us getting the logo out of it. And how we perceive this tournament, we know how important it is to Canadians and what it meant for Taylor to win. But we just talk about the kind of change in public perception of it. I mean, I kind of tied it back to Rory's first win in 2019. You throw in the wrinkle kind of really growing into what it's become. I mean, the Taylor moment was definitely a crossover moment among sports. But I mean, it got a ton of love in the golf community and it feels like this tournament is kind of getting a reputation for a non convoluted, but just an organic rowdy weekend experience. I mean, we go back to St. George's remember what it looked like at the end there and then everything that happened with with Taylor. What do you think the kind of public perception is outside of Canada for this tournament, Stanley? Yeah. I mean, like I would honestly even go the year prior to Rory's first win when Dustin Johnson won in 2018, you know, he was the number one player in the world at the time. So you know, you look at that and then you get Rory and then like you had all this momentum and then it was completely quashed to the pandemic, but then you come out of the pandemic and then you have this, you know, unbelievable finish where Rory does it again up against Tony Fino and Justin Thomas and then, you know, you backed that up with the Nick Taylor win. So, you know, you could make a big argument and I kind of have that, you know, the finishes to the RFC came open over the last two years, certainly last year, were the best, if not one of the best on the entire PGA Tour schedule, you know, major champion chips included and you know, you look at kind of the look back to the year that was in 2023 and what's the big moment that stands out more than almost any other that Nick Taylor cut drop and just the way, you know, it's not like telling me to make a, made a bogey and Nick Taylor kind of fell into winning the RBC Canadian Open. He won the RBC Canadian Open. So, you know, two year questions specifically about the perception of it all. You know, people know that this event has had some tough things go on outside the ropes the last few years, but the inside the ropes product has delivered tenfold and, you know, for the lack of maybe top tier star power that there is this week, you know, someone's going to win $1.5 million, so it's going to potentially maybe have a life changing opportunity if they're not, you know, one of these top tier stars or it's just going to be a nice weather week and everyone's going to crush beers and have a great time cheering on the boy. I mean, to your point about all the off the golf course stories that we've got surrounding this tournament the last couple of years, are we out of the woods now that the tournament has started or like could we get some ginormous like live announcement like today? Like, I hope not. Um, Jay Monahan was here the last two days, but you left last night. So hopefully, like hopefully that means that we're in announcements actually coming, generally speaking. Oh, that was mean. I know. Sorry. I do like my hope is that like since the tournament is actually underway now, like it's just anything else is just not going to happen. I mean, obviously, like there, there has been, you know, the early week kind of cloud over the event, obviously Grace Murray dying by suicide last week. This is the first tournament kind of back since then. So I do think that one of him was here for, you know, just kind of addressing players and talking to anyone that he didn't see last week at the Charles Wab challenge. So he was here for a little bit and then obviously yesterday, Scotty Sheffler, the charges against him, you know, they were dropped. So there was like some, some other news going on, but some of that, not, not so much the Grace Murray remembrance, but, you know, the Sheffler news any other week would be really big, but it's kind of barely registered here. So, yeah, I mean, fingers crossed. We're in the clear. The tournament's underway. Things are happening. And yeah. Or Rory and Taylor Fender at the Nick Taylor are about to tee off, I've got them staring at them right now. And we're off to the races guys. Things are happening. So last one from me before I let you go and you can go, you can go chase those horses around Nick Taylor. What are we expecting from him? I mean, I, I watched him operate around the media center for a couple hours yesterday. He talked about the demands on his time. It's good demands to have. It's a good problem to have, but this is far, far from a regular tournament week for him. We expect it catches up with him at some point in time. Do you think it'll be more of a momentum that allows him to kind of carry it through? I mean, like you said, the good thing is there's a million other guys that could pick up the mantle if it's not going to be him. But man, it seems like this is a big, big week for Taylor in terms of demands outside the ropes. Yeah. I mean, his wife jumps out on an airplane yesterday. So that's right. There's been a, there's been a lot happening, but I, you know, last year, Nick Taylor shot a 75 on, on Thursday, and then obviously, you know, when it went on to win. I think kind of that over par number might be what we're, what we're maybe looking at again today, if only because he's been running on adrenaline in the last three days. And now it's like, oh, man, now I got it. Now I got to play golf. Have I done, have I done the prep work that I usually do for a PGA tour event? A hundred percent? No. This week, you know, that it's just, it's a different kind of week. The guy is on the logo. The guy is the logo of the tournament. So, you know, if he's going to come in and, and say, you know, I, I feel fine. I feel normal. Like it's just not that, but he's either embraced the non-normal aspect of it all and, and he's going to be, he's going to be okay. Or he might just kind of run out of fumes and kind of limp, limp home. So that's a big question for sure. I can kind of see it going the way of running, just kind of running out of gas, but also maybe once he's inside these ropes, it's like, no, I'm just at work now. It's time to go regardless the, just pairing this, this trio, it's going to, it's going to be a buzzy, buzzy day and obviously tomorrow afternoon, Friday afternoon, these guys coming through. It's going to be wild. Yeah. Taylor Pender has just teed off and hit it not very close to the fairway. Nick Taylor just teeing off right now. I won't do play by play. That's illegal. But it looks like a good one. Okay. Yeah. Last one. And then you can go, go do the fun thing of watching golf. Who does this golf course favor because not necessarily the longest golf course in the world. Like who, what style of game does Hamilton favor? Somebody who is just elite, elite ball striking, elite off the tee, like the rough is really long, but it's so, it's so soft out here guys still that, you know, I hate to, I, like, I hate to bring it up because like it's a total cliche answer, but like Laurie McElroy's game is like Taylor made for this place like it's a far, he hits it straight. You know, his ball striking is elite like there's just not going to be a real opportunity for the shorter hitters to score as well as some of the longer guys that are just hitting driver wedge into most of these holes just be a because it's so wet and be it's kind of that old school track. You're going to find a fairway. You're going to find the green. You're going to have success. So, yeah, Rory is obviously the top name, but anyone else on tour who's, you know, dialed in with, dialing with their, with their driver, they're going to play well. So, you know, from a Canadian perspective, Corey, Corey is probably the one that's best suited for a place like this. But yeah, anyone who's, who's elite in that stroke scheme, driving opportunities, strokes gain TD green, they're the ones that are going to have success this week for sure. And weather looks good, right? Like, I don't know. And then kind of monitoring the forecast looks good for the weekend, no? It does. Yeah. So I think it's going to get up to like 19 today. There's not a cloud in the sky though. It's 10 and a 10 today. And then the rest of the week, I think it's going to be kind of that low 20s, maybe some rain coming in on the weekend, but light. So, yeah, I don't think the place is going to dry out all that much because it's still, it's going to be kind of brisk in the morning, kind of single digits, but yeah, whether the rest of the weekend is supposed to be really good. It's, it's so funny because like, I think it's beautiful weather and like steamy, especially for, you know, May, I saw somebody out there early with a tuke on and I was like, what's happening here? Cali guy. Yeah. There are many tukes being worn right now. And they want like, like, gunner knows, like, I'm a, I'm a big best guy, but we've got, we've got puffer vests. We've got footies, like, drawstring tight on the face right now. Like, you guys are, you guys are cold. Throw up all of you. Cool. Tell them, you know, to get, make it some hot chocolate in the media center for you guys. Joke. I guess. Yeah. They turn, they turn the eaters on in the media center. No, break, man. Okay. I get it. Like, when you're used to playing Florida and Arizona, I guess it's cold. Good. Seems beautiful to me anyways. It is. Yeah. Stanley, hopefully we'll run into you this weekend to check it out at Hamilton. Thanks for doing this, pal. No worries. Thanks, fellas. Yeah. Those Adam Stanley sports net golf reporter, like I'm a guy that strips down. Like, I, I, whoa. On the golf course. Oh, whoa, whoa. I'd be wearing like a speedo today if I were playing like beautiful, it's sunny, very rarely will you look at your little weather app and it's like just the sun. You're right. A little cloud. Today, it's just the sun. I don't care if it's 10 degrees. It's just the sun. Like, I'd be wearing there just a t-shirt and shorts on the golf course, not painted painting a, a picture of the golf media as a tough group that they're like, get the heaters on. It's 19 degrees here. Yeah. It's hilarious. It is hilarious. And then, well, you know what it is. It's like they're, and they're all wearing pants all the time too. Like, it's like, they have very much like, I, I go, I wear shorts, but it's like a lot of the media guys. So like, I'm being professional after wear my pants and I'm like, it's, I, I wondered about that. So I didn't go to, to Oakdale last year, it's been a while since I attended a professional golf event. It's been a while. Should I wear jeans? I would not. Don't, no. Yeah. No, don't, no. You've been, like, you've been to a golf course before. Yeah, but like, I don't know. Well, here's the thing though. It's like, if, if, if JD Bunk has asked me this question, I'd be like, go for it, bud. You wear jeans all you want. You know. Yeah. You know better. But I know. You're a man of golf. I know. But I'm not asking you also like an embarrassing, like, yeah, you don't want to be the guy. It's like, what? Where are golf shoes? No. There's a couple of things on them. Oh, wow. You're going to defend the guy that wears golf shoes as a spectator to the golf event. If you were wearing like a cleated, like it has the twist in, that's too much. But they make these like soft by golf shoes down. I have. Now, I wore a pair of white running shoes yesterday. But if I had a like full set up to Sunday or sundown, maybe I'm staying there all the way to Sunday. I am not above. I think I, I'm about 50/50 when I go, like, if it's going to be a full day, I'll usually go at my like spike list golf shoes. I will. And then the move is you're right. Like nobody want there are guys who you'll see with like they have a ball marker on their cap. Like someone's going to ask them to. I mean, you've worn that to do this show before. That was an accident though. And I guess it could have been for those guys too, but I'm going to judge them. Now, this is an excellent move that I've seen people do. You may want to consider it. Bring your laser. Have you ever been sitting there and you're like, I wonder how far out this guy is. Bang. You know. I've seen it. That's a great move. What are you talking about? It's a great move. It's a great move. Come on. I almost feel embarrassed to use it on the actual golf course when I'm playing, especially when I'm playing poorly. And I'm like, Oh yeah. Like here's the guy. I don't know. You better laser it. No, you can't get a bad shot out there. Yeah. So you should laser everything. Yeah. You can't. You will not hit a bad golf shot. Whatever day you're at Hamilton this week. I could confirm. It's a great point. I made three birdies yesterday for you. We won't talk about the rest. That's good. As you mentioned to me, so the move I think is like you'll wear some like whatever, like some shorts. Maybe they're golf shorts. Maybe they're like, you know, running around shorts, whatever. And then just to wear a t-shirt and a hat, you're good to go. You don't need like, if you want to wear, I'm not going to tell you like, don't wear a collared shirt. If you want to wear a collared shirt, have at it. But it is hilarious when you see like, when I see the spectator impance with the tucked in golf shirt, I'm like, buddy, this is just like, take it easy. You ever relaxed in your life? Have you ever tried it? Give it a go. They're not going to call you to come in under the, the wire and yeah. People make fun of like tennis for this. Like, I always hear this like, oh, people dressed like they're going to go play. It's like, this is so much worse in golf than any other, any other sport. But yeah, do you think bringing the laser is a psycho move, eh? Uh, yeah. 100%. No, I think it's a great move. What are you talking about? No, it's psychotic. Why? What do you want to know? Like, you're just standing there. No. I think you can ball park it. You can ballpark it. But you need to know exactly. That was 197 instead of like, oh, there's the 200 yard marker. Like, I get it. You think from in the back in the gallery, you're seeing the 200 yard steak. You wouldn't. Yeah. And I know you strike me as a guy who's like, I can see enough from here. This is good. I don't feel like you're like fighting at the front of a mosh pit. Maybe not. But yeah, I think it's fine. I like, I played enough golf that I can also like just telling eyeballs, like kind of estimate how far 200 yards is. Yeah. It's a lot of elevation and slope. Stanley Thompson, the guy who originally designed this, every course ends with a walk, just up 90 degrees. A lot of elevation changes. I'm not telling you you have to know this sounds like you're defending your use of the laser. I don't even own a laser. I just know like a friend of a friend. And I see I see it all the time at the Canadian Open. Like, there's not a thousand guys doing it, but there's not two either. That's psychotic behavior. No, that's actually a great behavior. Good job. I want to shake your hand, whoever it was. The last thing on this for me is Adam mentioned the preparation for Nick Taylor considering all the added responsibility you have. And it's like the broadcast has only been on for like less than an hour. I've already seen the pot like I think three times a hundred times. Yeah. And we can't get enough of it. No, honestly, I'm mad it's not playing on a loop in front of me. But this is something Mike Weir talked a lot about when he was trying to become the first Canadian since Pat Fletcher to win his national open and he came, damn, oh, so close against Vijay Singh at Glen Abbey is that this is a guy despite being a major champion and a top 10 player in the world at the time, like his media responsibilities were not outsized when he was on the PGA tour. No, normally, even in a major, like even Augusta being a former master's champion. There's a lot of him poking around. Yeah, he's Mike Weir and like he's one of the guys. People know who Mike Weir is. He's not Tiger Woods. No. This is the one event. All the Canadians are Tiger Woods. Especially when you're Nick Taylor and you have that moment, how that changes things. And it used to be Mike Weir and it still will be Mike Weir and he's the President's Cup captain. So there'll be a lot of questions towards him. But like for the rest of his playing days at this event, Nick Taylor will have that. And it's just something he doesn't have anywhere else on the PGA tour. No, he doesn't. And honestly, like I again, I made a point of being at the media center for his presser yesterday. I wanted to hear what he had to say. And then even just watching the aftermath of that, it's like, okay, go do a stand up with this guy. Go do a stand up with this guy. Oh, this print person would like to ask you a couple follow up questions. Okay. Oh, here's the here's somebody who's from the host site of next year's RBC Canadian Open. Would you like to shake hands and have a quick five minute chat with them? I'm sure not even though he's a perfectly nice guy. It's like, that's the amount of things. And that was a 20 minute, 25 minute snapshot I saw. And that was on Wednesday. How much did he do leading up into it? How much is there going to be after the fact here? And you know, he does have, he does have guys to shoulder the load with, but he's different now. That's the thing forever. It was weird. But, but it was Connor and it was, or Connor's and Taylor and Hadwin and Hughes. Now all those guys, they're all peers, but it's Nick Taylor, Mike Weir and all those guys. Correct. Yeah. And it's weird. Yeah. Nick Taylor first, like he's at this one for sure. Number one guy you think of. All right. The Waken Reich presented by sports interaction, your homegrown sports book 19 plus bet responsibly. Why don't we talk about the RBC Canadian open tournament winner Rory McElroy. Not surprisingly, the favorite at plus 400 Tommy Fleetwood last year's runner up. Yeah. Plus 1600. Uh, Corey Connors, the top rated Canadian at plus 2200, uh, Nick Taylor plus 6100. Yeah. That should tell you everything you need to know about what the expectations for Taylor. Uh, if I'm going to give you a little bit of a value pick, bit of a late ad, president's copper wants to impress Mike Weir. What better place to do it than in Canada, Tom Kim, you got him at 33 to one guy who's got a ton of game. He likes to go head to head with the best players in the world and in a field where there's not a ton of those guys, he definitely can be one. So if I'm going to look at a bit of a longer shot, Tom Kim, 33 to one, how about Dundas Ontario's on Mackenzie Hughes and like in his own stomping ground? Yep. This is not just a Canadian. This is like in his, his backyard, essentially, he said plus 4000. This would normally be the stop where he is the guy alongside Mike Weir, like it's Mike Weir and the hometown guy in Mackenzie Hughes. But because of everything, maybe he can fly under the radar just a little bit. This is a guy trying to kind of refine the game. I love that. I love that pick there. And then I'll throw one more. If you're going to look at a bomber, you're going to look at a Canadian Taylor Pendreth, 50 to one guy has a ton of game. He too has been a president's copper. He's playing in a group with McElroy and Taylor. Maybe that gives him a little extra juice. Maybe he feels like he can fly under the radar there as well. So yeah, I think that's another guy to take a look at. That was the Wakenrake presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown sports book 19 plus bet responsibly. When we come back, Oilers getting themselves off the mat, evening up the Western Conference final at two games apiece. We'll talk to Luke Gazdick, former NHL forward, Sportsnet hockey analyst Nexus. The fan morning show continues Ben Ennis, Brent Gunning, Sportsnet 590, the fan.
