[MUSIC PLAYING] NBA Finals, continuing. Please. That's just like my plead. I know. No, I'm not. It's not going to happen. I know. You're done. No, I don't want to see-- No, I know. I know. Again, that's where you're going with this stuff. It wasn't that you don't think there's a hope. It's that you hope there's no hope. This is how you feel about it. Something you are, I'd imagine. I don't want to speak for you very hopeful for is our men's national basketball team. Yeah. There's been a long time coming. I mean, we've seen how many ups and downs, how many close calls with Olympic qualifying, how many cycles of will he play? Should he play? Most of that in the rear view now. Just a lot of excitement, quite frankly. What's your prevailing thought heading into the Olympics for Canada basketball? It's about time. Yeah. That's kind of it. That's kind of it. It's about damn time. Yeah, literally. It feels like it's long overdue that they arrive at this stage. And I think the biggest seminal moment for this program was five years ago now. It wasn't hiring Nick Nurse, by the way. Okay, that wasn't the case. But it was in conjunction with that hiring. The adoption of a new redefined approach to the program as a whole. And saying, it's time that we take this seriously and it's time that our players take it seriously too, right? There were years and years, Gunner, where Steve Nash was quote unquote running this thing. We know that is completely false. That was never the thing. Guess where he was running it from Gunner from a beach in Los Angeles, California. Please do not get me started. Okay. So they abandoned the old guard. They made it a clean break. Yep. They shifted things in a positive direction. Rowan Barrett was finally given the full keys to the castle, even though he was ostensibly making all the decisions anyway. But finally given the full autonomy and they said, this is how we're going to do things. The seminal moment was three pillars in terms of our commitment level, the way we're going to play and who's going to represent our country. If you don't show up, you don't play. Sorry, you have to be present. You have to display a commitment over a sustained period of time. And I think that's been absolutely instrumental. Because guess what? You know what other country has done that for decades? The United States of America, the United States, even, even, and I will say, and we know LeBron, Curry, all these guys are playing. Yep. There have been many years where LeBron had played in the finals. Eight years in a row, he went to the finals. Yep. And he still showed up for Minicamp with Team USA. Why? Because he wanted to play on the national team. He still managed to show up, to lug himself to Las Vegas for a week, to sit around, maybe shoot three basketballs. But the fact that you displayed a commitment level to the program. Show face. Totally. And finally, Canada is along that same track. And on top of that, you've got guys that I think really take pride in it. And I think that's a big deal. The fact that you've got this built-in chemistry and camaraderie, that is huge for just in general. These guys are going to be together for literally, and mind you, they're going to open camp in two weeks from today. They'll be together for probably three, four weeks before they play an Olympic game. But even that, it's not a great deal of time to prepare and get a sense of who's going to fulfill what role. Totally. So having that built-in buy-in is massive. And that's where they feel like they've made the biggest strides. Yeah, I don't want to stray too far from Canada. Obviously, it's the thing we're most excited about. It is just going to be a fascinating tournament. I mean, for a long time, we've thought of Olympic basketball of the states. And maybe there's one challenge. Sure. I mean, I don't want to get you started on Luke again. But it's like, we see what he's capable of. We know what yoga just can't blow up despite, again, the clip of him getting asked. Do you remember who Canada beat last year? I think it was the quarters. They lost in the semis to Serbia. I'm blanking. They beat Donchich. That's right, I do remember. That's right, because we were all whining about his whining. That's right. Exactly. Uber confident, I go, here's the difference. Those fever refs, they're not going to let you bait them into calls, and they're not going to care. They won't react. Because it's real basketball, Luca. That's what happens. And there's two ends of the court that you have to play. And I had no qualms about them beating them. I was actually in Serbia. I was like, oh boy. Because the Serbian's know how to play. Oh yeah. They know how to play. Now they're adding another guy, a good player that knows how to play, and Luca and now Luca Donchich. Yeah. And Nicola Yogich, that is going to suit up for Serbia, excuse me, in the Olympics. And that's going to make them a really tough out. They're probably one of the short list teams that could actually win it with him at the home. No, for sure. I mean, Olympic basketball, it's given us our share of moments. Like I think back to the redeemed team, I guess they called themselves against Spain and everything that happened there. That was such an interesting group to kind of get to watch collectively. I'm talking about the Spanish national team there. It's just, man, it's international basketball is something that I honestly, I think it's starting to get the due that it deserves. But it's just been so odd with the, again, like it's felt like a gold medal march for America for so many years. We know that on the women's side. It's a little different on the men's now, at least it kind of feels that way. That that's the thing I keep getting back to. It's just the excitement level that people have. There have been so many people kind of in the program that you'd have hopes and dreams for. And, you know, be at a qualifying tournament, not going that way. You know, Andrew's Wiggins name always comes up with this. He has, he has been there at times. And somebody who's here with us now, we'll talk to him as the, the guy who's going to be the head coach of the team for Canada's men's national team at the Olympic Games. You know, his day job also head coach. Jordi Fernandez joins us now. Jordi, thanks so much for jumping on. How are you doing this morning? I'm very good, thank you. Thanks for having me. So first things first, before I jump into the questions, I don't know that there's been a head coach that I can think of that has had such universal approval rating. Going back to the feeble World Cup last year, I remember it just kind of tie by worked out well that we were fresh reacting to these games during this time slot here. And to a man, everybody I talked to, be it, you know, a basketball sicko, be it somebody who's more of a kind of general sports fan. I cannot remember a head coach taking over, you know, with the national team, it's a little different. But the approval rating you have got from the jump of taking this job seems to be remarkable. Do you kind of feel that the pride that the country kind of seems to take you as the guy, man in the bench there? I thought, you know, I tried to jump on it and be, you know, Canadian right away, be approved by everybody, make everybody proud. I think it was easier because of the organization. Everybody working was amazing to work with. It was pretty sure notice, I think it was a month before. And everybody in place was amazing. The players did a great job. The commitment was high level. And I think that's what showed during the World Cup. Obviously, we wanted to win the gold, but it was a good first step for the program moving forward, moving into the ranking. So I'm very happy with the experience. And like we said before, we won more. So we're ready for the summer. Coach, first and foremost, congratulations on the Brooklyn Nets job. That's obviously fantastic. I'm sure that's occupied a lot of your time and attention over the last couple months and trying to get things organized before breaking into preparation for the Olympics here. But knowing that the Olympics were sort of on the horizon, I was curious. Did you in your discussions with teams as those interview in that process was occurring? Was the Olympics, was that topic broach of saying, hey, you know what? I do want to prioritize that I still want to be able to coach Canada at the Olympic Games. Because I find that we know, and we know this happens with players a lot. So Isaac, from a coaching standpoint, do those discussions take place? And did you have those conversations, whether it was with Brooklyn or any other team that was interested in potentially having you join their staff for the upcoming NBA season and beyond? Yes, and Brooklyn always saw it as a positive just for two reasons is because I get more reps as a coach, right? So it makes me better. And then you know, you get relationships and you play against not just your coach, the best players in the world, like in Canada, we have, in my opinion, the best team in the world for the Olympics. So it's good to get to know all these players and also the players that you play again. So Brooklyn saw it as a positive for me. It was a priority because I would not be in the position that I am in the NBA without Team Canada. We have those guys in the organization. So they respected that and they allowed me to do it. So it was easy. It was easy to do in the process, but yes, it was asked and it was for both for both sides. Yeah, and I was going to say, I imagine it's something that, you know, as you grow in that role as a head coach in the NBA, it will only kind of help you on the other side of things. Like, it does seem like the two could kind of help develop different parts of it because as much as it's the same job in coaching a team, I can't think of a more different challenge than, you know, you pop in for a camp and then everyone goes their own ways. And whereas with Brooklyn, obviously, you're kind of running things. One of the challenges you're going to have, and God, what a good challenge this is to have is you didn't have to worry about Jamal and Shae Gill, just Alexander in terms of how they were going to fit together. Again, this is not me trying to start a problem. I know it's a good one to have, but obviously the team is just going to play differently. Having another guy who has the ball in his hands as often as Jamal Murray does, how much is that a part of what you'll kind of be working on in training camp and what are maybe some other, I don't want to phrase him as challenges, but just kind of questions you have about your team heading into the camp. Yeah, I don't see it as a problem. I see it just as a positive. Jamal was in camp last summer and he did a great job. They played together throughout camp. And we're going to keep playing the same way. We're going to play fast. We're going to try to move the ball as much as we can like we did last year being number one offense and, you know, it's usually an equal opportunity offense until the end of the game when you have to put the ball in the hands of the player that, you know, gets it going. Obviously, as you guys know, Shae is a very important player for us as our leader. And in that regard, he was a guy that finished a lot of games and he was very important to finish games. But if you guys remember in the TV USA again, Dylan was the one that he got it going and he's the one that made a lot of shots. So I think that, you know, adding Jamal to the group, it just makes us better. You know, we're going to have two all stars right there. And it's just going to be like, I don't see it as a problem. I see it. There's a, you know, the challenges are just normal challenges that we could have had last year. And again, I know Jamal well, I know he's a team player. I know it's tough and extremely competitive and they're going to be a very good duo for sure. I mean, I feel really good about that back court coach. And I know what you do too, because you've got an NBA champion three, right? Yeah. Yeah. An NBA champion, one of the most clutch guards in the league today in Jamal Murray, who just seems to have a knack for making big shots and big moments. And then you've got Che, who was an MVP mix, a finalist for the MVP this year, a guy that is a budding superstar in this league and obviously did what he did on the big stage for Canada last year. So, I mean, and not just not a problem. It's beautiful to have assets like that that you can roll out there. I've always been curious about this coach because it's something that we talk a lot about in just in, you know, anytime international basketball comes to the forefront of the in the mainstream media and in these conversations, which is everybody says that the international game is so much different than the NBA. And and I see it. I see it from stylistically, there are obviously things that are that are discernibly different. But from your perspective as somebody that's coached on both sides, you've been involved with various national team programs and obviously have been on NBA benches for several years now. What are actually some of the most tangible differences in the way that the game is played here in North America within the NBA versus what you see internationally and what we're going to see at the Olympics. I mean, I'm just going to it's very obvious what I'm going to say, but it's 40 minutes is there 48. So that makes it that makes a huge difference. And if you think about it, every possession matters. And we're about to play six games in the Olympics. You play three pool games and then quarter final, center final, final. So in the NBA, you play through the regular season and then in the playoffs is like the game changes and it gets so physical. So international basketball is that style from the beginning. It's every possession and getting to play that way for our guys. You have to practice. You have to have the mindset to do it. And I think, like I said before, they did a great job last summer. We still have long ways to go as a program to establish ourselves. We had our own style play. Obviously, European teams play in a way because they've played together for a long time for us, our physicality and how fast we play. I think we did a great job. But yeah, I think mainly the 40 minute, the physicality and how important every possession is, it's what really makes a difference. And when we got to that Serbia game last year, we were physically and mentally tired. And that's what we probably was one of our worst games for that reason. Yeah. I mean, we see it all the time, be it in the NBA playoffs, be it in international tournaments where you're a very different version of yourself from the last game you play to to the first there. The thing I, you know, we talked about strengths of this team and obviously, a lot of people are going to go to the back court. Rightfully. So for me, I'm going to slide just like a little over on the roster. You have as many great wing defenders as anybody could possibly ask for. I mean, you mentioned Dylan Brooks, what he did in that game was special. He became like a secondary like national hero during the feeble world cup last year. It was remarkable. How much, how much we all kind of refell in love with him. But I mean, Nikki Alexander Walker, Lou Dort, what is it? How much easier does it make your job as a coach when you just have the plethora of bodies you can throw, especially with those kind of wing defenders? Yeah. I mean, you just said it all. It allows us to play quote unquote small, but to be very big and very strong. And that bothers a lot of teams, especially in fever where ball movement and shooting, it's important. And, you know, in the game against Spain, you could see it. Lou was our weapon of the bench, especially defensively and that game against Spain. He was huge for us. We were able to change the game in the second half. We are back against the wall in a very important game. And, you know, our physicality and the ability to to play small and that sense and be very strong and switchable. It just, you know, help us qualify for the Olympics and qualify for a quarter final. So that was the weapon we had. And we still have and we're just adding more to it. Coach, I know the the the acclimation process was rather quick for you last summer because between the time you were appointed as the head coach to the time you guys started playing competitive games at the World Cup, it was literally the span of less than a month. And you had training can't mix in there as well. So I guess it would have been difficult because I'm sure things were happening so quickly. But now that you had, you know, a full calendar, you're in sort of this role and being around various players and you see a lot of these guys throughout your your passings in the NBA because obviously a lot of them are playing for different various teams. But did you sense that there was like a built in level of chemistry or camaraderie that was already sort of there or at least that seed had been planted and maybe that helped push the culture along for you guys? Because I mentioned this to Brent earlier in the show where I talked about how it felt like a real sort of seminal moment for the program might have been four or five years ago when there was a clear directive in place that if guys had a desire to play for Canada to represent this program and this team, they'd have to show some level of commitment on an annual basis like they had to be present for many camps. They had to sign up for a three, four year cycle as opposed to just jumping in whenever they wanted to. Was there that built in chemistry? Could you sense sort of that camaraderie already taking shape? Yeah, and I think it was a good mix of guys that have always been part of the program like Melvin, Trey, the scrub brothers. I mean all those guys that have been huge for the program and have never missed a window so and so forth and then the NBA guys. I think that everybody like made an effort to build a team, build the chemistry, get to know each other, spend time together and at the end of the day the result was a group of guys that fought. It was not perfect but I think we competed at a high level and at the end of the day it's not about you, it's about the team and I think they showed that that was very important and that was the reason we were successful. This year obviously as you guys will see the list we'll add, we'll have more names in that list and the main goal is the same thing. If we can improve the team we will, we can improve the roster but the main priority for us will be the team and that doesn't mean that we're going to bring just the best individuals, we're going to bring the best players that will make the best team so that for us will be very very important. Yeah I think I think that's encouraging for a lot of people to hear, not the least of which is a shout out for the scrub brothers which it's just like you're endearing yourself to hipster basketball everywhere in this country. We're like oh yes more about the scrub brothers. I'm not joking either about that. It sounds like I am but you've said it, there have not been two guys that have shown it up more. Does not matter where, does not matter when you're playing in Antarctica, they're there. It truly does not matter. I don't want to dance around the issue here. When we talk about rosters and players coming, I'm sure there are many players that you were thinking of in your head when you answer that question but when we ask it, generally speaking it's about one guy, do you have any insight on whether or not Andrew Wiggins will be a part of this team for the Olympics? Andrew has always been my conversations with him. He's always been very in favor to represent the country. Obviously I was here just last summer and he didn't play. Every time I've seen him, he's shown interest by playing in the summer and playing in the Olympics. As you guys know, he's one of the best basketball players, one of the best Canadian basketball players ever. So for us, he's a very important part of the program. But like everybody else, and I'm tying this from shade to everybody else, is you come into camp and you're going to fight for a spot. You're going to fight for your minutes. There's nothing that I'm going to give you. And then if you just, it's not like you're going to show me, you're going to show your teammates and everybody else. And I think that's the approach we need because if you start just guaranteeing spots or minutes, you do this. You don't do this for the money. You do this for something else. The commitment is important. And there's like our six weeks of our summer. And it's very special. So we need these guys to buy into what we're trying to do, whether it's Andrew or anybody else. So he's been great. He's that type of player that can also make the difference for us. And if we have him committed and working really hard, he's going to be a big part of what we're trying to do. Awesome to hear that. I think that's encouraging for a lot of people to hear. I think we'll have some questions for Andrew himself now, but that's not your job to answer. Geordi, honestly, like I said, at the beginning, I can't think of a guy who right away had a immediate approval with everybody who cares about this team. But you certainly did that best of luck in Paris. And then after that, best of luck with the nets in that order, though, I do care more about Paris than your job with the nets. I have to be honest, Geordi. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Go Canada. Go Canada. Our man. Thank you, coach. Canada's Ben's basketball team program begin their training camp for the 24 24 Olympics. Two weeks from today, we're a little less than a month away from the first tune-up game. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just wet in their feet. The Americans, you know, as one does fully loaded. Hey, stopped and ready to go in Vegas. Okay. So I want to talk to you about the Americans. But before we do that, we have to talk about what we just heard that sound. This has been the general tenor. I feel like I've heard. And as we get closer and closer, it feels like for me, it's been easier to put a pretty fine point on this. I don't think Canada basketball would phrase it this way, but I'm going to. It sounds to me like Andrew Wiggins is going to ask Jamal Murray and Shay Gil, just Alexander if he could be on this team. It sounds and I don't want to put it on those two guys, but it seems to me like he is going to go and say, Hey guys, I want to be a part of this. I'm here. I'm committed. And it seems to me like so long as there's buy-in from the roster to that, there's no reason he won't be a part of that. That's been my read on this anyways. I think that's a fair understanding and assessment of the situation. I do feel the more you listen, and we just heard Jordi talk about it, Andrew was on the on our station a couple of weeks ago in JD and he also spoke to Ahmed and and S on on sports and today in the NBA edition, which their conversation was was long and it was really good. Yes. And he mentioned he also referenced that in his own experiences, he regrets not playing for Canada more. And so make it out what you will. But there does seem to be some momentum lending itself to the belief that he's interested and sees this as an opportunity. I think also, you know what's playing in the favor of that guy having a desire to suit up? It's the fact that nobody thinks anything of them right now. Totally. And Dylan Brooks was in the exact same position last year. Oh my God. Coming off of here, learn Chinese buddy jokes and all that. Everybody was just raking them over the coals, right? The timber, the grizzlies, excuse me, literally came out and said we are not re-signing this guy to bury him. But guess what he did? He suited up for Canada, engaging himself and everybody loves him. And here in Canada, you'll always have a special place and everyone's hurt. Now everybody just pencils them in on that rock. And it's like, yeah, he's going to play an important role, right? The Wiggins can have that sort of arc with one good tournament. That's literally what it takes. One good tournament, one or two really memorable performances. And we're going to be all right back on the Wiggins bandwagon on that train of saying, God darn it. He was the one that was at the front of this wave. It's great that he's a part of this and he gets to experience it too. That is where I can see this progressing. But I will admit, historically over the years, there's always been skepticism. And the narratives publicly have been the same as what they've been privately. It's always been, does he really want it? Does he care about that? And I guess at this stage of his life, I tend to think that maybe actually there's a part of him that really says, you know what, I do want this. Yeah, I do want this. And I'm with you, Gunnar, if there's buy-in from those players and from the folks around the program after the various bouts of extended absences that we've seen from him, then I do think there's a good chance he'll be on that team. And the other thing is that it feels like, I mean, look, obviously, he has some dog performance in a big game where he's like, you know, over eight from deep or something like that, then yeah, he's going to wear it. But there's very little downside to him in this. In years past, it's been, hey, show up, be the best player, go toe to toe with LeBron James and please win something for us. It's not that hard. We're not Andrew, we're not asking that much. Just be maple Jordan. Yeah, just be maple Jordan. Like we said, you were, which was, that's crazy nuts. And now no one would expect him to be anything more than the third best player on this team. Sure. And people would say, well, remember Dylan Brooks, remember Lou Dort? What about defense? How about you? Nobody mentioned Zarja? Are you a great international player? Yeah, you're, you're a hard, right? God, that's one of, I know you'll appreciate this. One of my favorite international basketball memories is him winning, like, was it 18 under in Cairo? That was incredible. He was a year younger. I know. I remember. I remember watching that. With Roy Rana as the head coach, I'll never forget it. I was enthralled watching that from like a CDC gem streamer. Being the United States coach by John Calla Perry. That's right. Yes. Real guys. Yeah, that was an awesome moment. So, yeah, RJ, you're right to point out how good an international player he's been. I'm going to talk to Mickey in a sec. He can wait. It's fine. It's Mickey. I'm going to probably still sleep. Well, we'll talk the golf door. We'll get the golf door. No, no, I want to talk about this stuff, though. What does it mean to have a kind of full bore USA basketball? We've been in a bit of like a down cycle here, not that every time USA basketball puts out a roster, it's, it's fair. It's 12 of the best 21 guys in the world or whatever you look at it. Okay. So, there's never a bad team USA. But what does it mean to have what is probably, and I don't know, like they'll probably all disagree with me, but I think I'm right, the swan song for Kevin Durant, for LeBron James, for Steph Curry. If this is the end of an era for international basketball, how do you think we'll kind of view this version of team USA? Because there's been the stories, right? The dream team, the redeemed team. And now it's like the old guys. I don't know what I was supposed to do. Well, it's kind of feels like a redeemed team 2.0, because like they're, they've assembled it on the back of, guess what? Canada beating the United States last year in the bronze medal game of the World Cup. You know, I'm interested. I'm very curious to see how this looks. Because anytime in the past that you've had this collection of talent come together for the United States at this level, they've always been super motivated, right? There's always been a true like sense of togetherness and motivation that we need to go and put our put our stamp on a tournament and say the United States is still the best. And I wonder if what the messaging is going to be from this group. And if that is going to be the case, because as you put it, I remember that Oh, eight team in Beijing, that Kobe was there. And in the final, he goes out and lays an absolute Gasol, you monster screen on the salt teammates of the Lakers just won a title. Screw you power playing for gold. Very, very telling of the mentality of everyone on the team that they're shocked by that, by the way. So do does this American team have guys like that? Yeah, because I do think there the competition is as good as it's ever been totally they are by far the most talented goes without saying. But but they're not a lot to win. No, because there are European teams and even Canada, God forbid, Canada has to play that team. I'll say this. I think Canada would actually in some instances prefer to play them as opposed to some of these European teams. No, I don't know why stylistically, it's a track meet. And there's only five guys on the court. And guess what? Canada's got two of the best players on the court. So they can they can go just as good as the other five guys on the American side. And I think for that reason, it's going to be fascinating to see because if they buy in and they play the right way, yeah, they're probably going to win. But there's a there's not just a modicum. There's more than a modicum of potential that they're not going to be that team. Well, and they these two guys that I'm talking about, I suppose I could lump Durant in there as well. The three guys would never admit this. But it is entirely possible that this is the last championship LeBron Curry and Durant will ever win. Oh, wow. Right? Yeah, it's very true. Like LeBron's not going to go into this saying I'm going to lose forever now. I'm just on this bad. No, no, it's great point. Outside of those three guys trying to like big three old man team it one day together. And what world is there where either of those organizations are ready to win a title, right? Yeah. So I think that's the other part of it is I do wonder how much they kind of see it as their true last stand and the Olympics is obviously very different, but getting to do it together. And I mean, it's funny, like LeBron is a generation separated from Curry, but they're ending their careers at the same time. It's kind of crazy. Who's the alpha? Well, I mean, you know who I'm going to say. Who do you? LeBron. Okay. It's LeBron. Okay. But I only asked that because no, from a scoring standpoint, from a scoring standpoint, I think even LeBron as great as he is, he's literally the all-time scoring leader, he would sit there and say, Oh, we need a bucket. I'm just giving the Katie and getting out of his way. Loki, the one that I think is a little bit under the radar that I think could be is Anthony. Well, he had the hit my favorite quarter. My favorite quarter of all time to Steve Kerr when he's when he goes over and hey, you know, doing weight came off the bench because we had COVID runs. Oh, I believe the exact quote is cool. Where's Kobe? Amazing. Incredible. And that goes back to '08, Kobe, clear alpha. Right? The, the, you know, and this is a weird one. Carmelo Anthony was. Oh my. Well, it's quietly the alpha. Cause he's the Kevin Durant role. All of the guys in the tournament. Again, all the guys from that generation say like, Oh, I have a better basketball player than Carmelo Anthony better have me to build your team around. We're playing one on one to seven. I did not like my chances. Yeah. Got hoodie mellow. Oh my god. Yeah. Don't let him, don't let him get hot. As mentioned earlier on today's show, Santana coming to Budweiser stage on this summer on June 28th with counting Croes is brought out of their oneness tour to enter for a chance to win tickets texted in today's code word moonflower to 59590. Again, that's moonflower to 59590. Today is the last day we're giving away tickets for the event. But if you don't win with us tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.ca. We've had a very wide ranging show today. And I'm not going to pretend to know where the next conversation is going to go. My friend and yours, Sam McKee, going to join us next for a little mess around on Friday to finish up the show. Fan morning show with Gunning and Fred chasing sports at five nine of the fan covering the blue J's from an analytical perspective. J's talk plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download J's talk on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If that doesn't get you ready for the weekend, including Daniele like mouth guitar about say air, but you're hearing it. Yeah, you're hearing it. Karaoke guitar. It's my favorite thing. I said karaoke, which is our next guest favorite thing. Sam McKee producer. I'm just reading exactly what's put in front of me. Producer and third man on real kipper and borns. Also co host of both the golf show and leaves talk here on sports net 590 the fan plug catch Brent Gunning's favorite show real kipper and born weekdays three to four p.m. on sports net 590 and sports net 360. And you can check out the golf show wherever you get your pods. What a promo for you. Sam McKee, how you doing bud? Jesus, pretty good there. I makes me really consider what I write on my apps. Well, we don't we know that because kipper's barbecue in you for them all the time. What is this Sammy? Get the wrong guy. Make me shout out Sis Boomba. He's not here. Don't piss me off. Yeah, he's always lurking. He's always lurking. Sammy, what was that? That was a kipper that was a kipper drop from when I I think I pissed him off on the show. I asked him a question he didn't like. So there we go. Yeah, I think that's the first ever drop I've heard while being on it. You guys caught me off guard. We don't typically pepper them in with guests. I've been trying to know what's the word I'm looking for. Like make Santos feel more comfortable with throwing him in power. That's the word I was looking for. So Santos, I'm looking at you. I make an eye contact with you. You are empowered to drop it up. Okay. Sammy key. We've just had a wonderful conversation with Jordy Fernandez, the head coach of of canvas men's basketball team as a as a patriot. I just want to kind of like quickly start there. How excited are you for Olympic basketball with our men this year? Like Olympics are great. We get excited all the time. It is remarkable for me anyways. And I don't know maybe it's just because I have to talk about this Blue J's team every day. How laser focused I am on that tournament like a month and change from now. Yeah, I'm really excited as well. I, you know, it's the caveat that is a little bit of worry is I'd like to see the roster and I'd like to see them all in Paris at the tournament with the when the games about to tip off with our full roster. That's always something that I worry about with this with guys dropping out in the NBA and high power contracts where they don't necessarily want their guys going over there. But I think it's a harder sell when it's the Olympics to keep them away. So I think we should have a big roster. And yeah, man, like, you know, outside of America, I don't see a better roster. So having a really good basketball roster in a non traditional sport for us in terms of basketball, how it's growing. It's really exciting. And I'm really excited for June 22, where Canada plays messy America. Like, for me, it's just I, you know, we hit we're really good at hockey. We've always been really good at hockey. We're pretty good at baseball. You know, we have great golfers on tour now. But like for us to be really good at basketball and decent at soccer is two really exciting things for me. Hey, here's the thing. I like when Canada is good at stuff. So more things for us to be good at. That's great. And yeah, I'm excited for the Olympics. I love the Olympics. Huge Olympic guy. So yeah, it's gonna be it's a really good summer for us to have that distraction with the Blue Jays the way they are. So yeah, that's my long wind answer to say. Excited. Yeah, you know what, Sam, you're absolutely right. We could like the Olympics and even the Copa America, even the Euros, all of that couldn't have come at a better time. Because like, if this would have been two years ago, you got at least the Jays were decent. They're good. They're compelling. There's a lot of fun things happening with the team two, three years ago. And now we're in a position where it's a welcome distraction. And it's something that we can at least latch on to and say, Oh, this is fun. This is interesting. Like, I do think, I mean, you know, we'd be nice way darts would be fun. Imagine being good at darts. Imagine if Canada was good at darts. That looks like the most fun. It looks like the most electric thing. Like it really does. Nevertheless, we got to digress on that one, Sammy. You know what, you didn't mention Canada and soccer. I know you're kind of low key, a bit of a soccer guy. And especially when it comes to Canadian soccer, in particular, and supporting the national team. They're playing Argentina in their first Copa America match. They're in an interesting group. That'll obviously be the most high profile opponent in game that they see here in this tournament. What are your expectations? What are you hoping to see here? Because I'm always curious to ask this question to anybody when it comes to talking about Canadian soccer. I feel like you're going to get too drastically. There's always like complete opposite end of the spectrums. It's unpredictable. You never know what you're going to hear from somebody when that question is posed. As it relates to Canadian soccer. I remember when we were in the World Cup, and I just got absolutely lambasted by multiple friends. And on Twitter, when I was like, boy, Canada's in really tough at the World Cup here. They're like, wow, Croatia's aging. And I'm like, it's Croatia. Oh man, I think the Croatian football association came for him there. They're like, absolutely not. Don't talk about Luke the Modrich. You'll leave him alone. He's still great. And you're better tell that John Hartman a quick fire in his guns. God, that is actually, that was one. I actually think that was my first welcoming to how dumb soccer is. It's like John Hartman. I'm not saying what he said he should have said. I don't even remember, but I don't remember the example. I wasn't really offensive. It was just like, they're good, but they're not perfect. I think we have a cackling of his line. Sammy's back. John Hartman, I remember you being more angry about that than anybody else. Do you remember? What was it he said? Do you remember? Oh, I just called him out. He called out, like he called out Croatia. And I'm just, you know, Oh, I was just Croatian football. Yeah, they don't want us to talk about Croatia. I think we'll park it. I think we'll park it for for today. Maybe try them one more time and yeah, get them on the horn. You want to talk to this guy? You got to talk to somebody about the US Open today. Yeah, you have a question for both of us. I do have a question. Okay. Okay. Well, before we do the leaf question, I want to ask you a question because I was going to ask you to say, I'm both McKee and you about this. He said decent at soccer, are we? Like, I know we have qualified for a World Cup. And I watched what happened. And I'm again, this is like, feel free to correct me. If someone watching this from a distance, I feel like it is nothing. I have not seen one good news story since I've heard we're playing messy. That's all anybody keeps telling it. I say, again, is that a good thing? The honor of getting our teeth kicked in. I don't know. You tell me gunner, the best result in program history just took place last weekend. They drew France. Boom. Let's go. No, no, didn't concede. Love it. The literally speaking, literally given where France is and the the prestige of their team and their program. That is the best result in the history of Canadian soccer. Like that, that doesn't matter that it was a drop. Awesome. The best result. Nevertheless, are they decent? You know, there's a lot of crappy teams that make the World Cup. Okay, I'll say 48 or whatever. And especially in the next one in 2026, you're absolutely right where they're expanding the field. So I think it what's important here. And this is where I'm at. I thought a lot of the consternation and criticism coming out of that World Cup or some of the performances was vastly overblown. You want to know why? Because the program hadn't been there in 30 something years, man. And guess what? We have, if you look at Canada, objectively, well, certainly one world class player, arguably two, if we throw David in there, he's very good. But it's Davies and David. Yeah. And then everybody else. They're pros. Don't get me wrong. But you're, you got to find more Davies and David's if you want to actually win games on that stage. It's that simple. The disrespect to Stephen Astacchio, I think, I don't know, McKee, I couldn't play you talking about what you talking about, gutter. You're you're you're a lot. I just had a guy on the top of my head. It's like place for Porto, I think. I don't know. Look at me. I know stuff. So answer your question that I was trying to answer when I had the robot the robot's forgotten me there, boys. I don't know. I it's worked every other time I've ever done this. Things happen. And then I got a new I got a new phone and it stopped working. So we should go back to the old beater. For sure. Yeah, we're probably going to get smoked in Copa. It's fun to be a part of these things. Okay. That's that's the nation we are. We're not really great. But like the fact that we're a part of these things and not losing you like eight one to Honduras is exciting. So enjoy it. Okay. That's all I wanted. I don't feel like that was a threat. I'm glad that's measured. I like better. You better enjoy it. I'm like, I'll do what I want. Okay. I'll my mileage may may vary. All right. I have to talk to somebody about the US Open. That's cool. No crying about Bryson. Maybe we'll let you do that later. You'll definitely be doing that on a golf show pod next next week. But just first blush thoughts about the US Open, whether it be the course as a whole, somebody who jumped out to you. Like what was your kind of big day one takeaway? Probably. It's got to be Rory, right? And is Rory out on the course yet today? I know he's out there. No one's on TV. This is bothering me. Yeah. You're not on TV. Oh, I don't. I don't. The guy behind the glass have some monitor that has the golf house somewhere. I think it's Rory. I mean, that's that's what everybody wants to see. That's what everyone wants to have happen, including every single broadcaster on every shot, just talking about how great he is and how like he's not in the game. Oh my god. It's unbelievable. Like this guy's got a marriage scandal and no one's mentioned it ever. It's crazy. What's what scandal is so it's just married just married to his wife. I don't know. One person in the golf world didn't do like everyone's on TMZ. And it's like, no, we would never mention that Tiger Wood gets in a scandal. And it's like the number one thing everyone ever talks with. Anyways, I digress. I think it's Rory. He played awesome yesterday. He played such an excellent round of golf, has himself in contention at a classic golf course here. I think that's what everybody really wants to see. Bryce, including me, is just a spectacular golfer. I love the way he plays. I, you know, it's just, I love watching him kind of think his way around these golf courses, the way he's hitting the drivers, unbelievable. But for me, it's Rory and it's see if you can get his first major in a hundred years. Yeah. A hundred years. Maybe he's lop way zero off. That's okay. But no, you know what? And history's on his side too, Sam, because yesterday it was a bogey-free round. And he's done it three other times where he's had a bogey-free round to kick off a major tournament. And in all three instances, he's gone on to win the tournament. So there's history on his side from that standpoint as well after what was a great round yesterday. I do want to quickly focus on Scotty Sheffler. Get your thought there because, look, I think it's the beard, Sam. I think the fact that he shaved and he got his new do, I'm pretty sure that is why he had such a sort of pedestrian opening round yesterday. It was like, it was very unscody-like, especially after what we've seen this year, where obviously he's been competitive in every tournament and perennial top five, if not winning. And he's won the five of eight. Like it just, it just wasn't a Scotty day yesterday. It was a weird one. It looked awful. It looked like he had like wax on his face. Like the way he went with that. Yeah, yes. Yeah. Like his super-un-skin-touched, sunny-touched skin was like poking out. Looked like it was like wax. I don't know. Or like some sort of weird fade. It was a really bad look. I mean, he just looked even older somehow. Like, how old is he 27? Yeah, he's turning 28 next week. Yeah. He somehow looked like even closer to 50. I've just never seen a bigger America face ever. He's just like the most classic America-looking guy. And when he's shaved with that weird hair, I just couldn't believe how weird he looked yesterday. Maybe he'll look a little bit better today after a day and a half in the Carolina Sun. But yeah, Chef Larry yesterday didn't have it. And guess what, place? He'll probably still be pretty close to winning this baby. I don't think he, I think they were saying that his driving stats yesterday was the worst he's had on tour since 2022. Yeah, I said for him to be able to go out there and still just shoot one over on one of the hardest golf courses in the world is really impressive when you have nothing close to your A game. So he's going to have his A game, one of these four days, and that may be all it takes because these scores are probably going to be around what minus three, minus four, minus five, the winning score. It may only take one day and then the rest of the time battling. Like if I wanted to maybe go to have a bet on him now because you're like, oh, maybe you'll get some value on him. No, they're too smart. Zero heart. Yep. They know that he's, they know that a 64 is lurking and they will not give you any value on him. Like, I'm just pulling it up right now where he, I mean, he is, oh, maybe some value now, boys, a certain look I'm looking at here, plus 650. Yeah, do worse. I mean, you're not going to get the value shuffler at that number, maybe for another 10 years. You're a gambling man. Have a look at that one. Yeah, entirely possible. Just quick little update for you. Both are men are on the course, both of them one over on their round. Rory through three, Bryson just finishing up three as well. So through three as well. So both are guys one over on the day. Can't lay still still leading things. All right, we're up against it a bit. Mackie has like sneak in one more question. But yeah, why bother? I love talking to you. Oh, I, I had a leash. Okay, no, no, no, this it'll break you and it'll, it'll, we can't do it now. There's not enough space for it. There's not enough time. That's the problem, Sammy. We got to do this again. And then we got to ask this question. All right. Okay. All right, boys, I'll, I'll talk to you Monday, but it will have a golf show pod, recap and everything US open for you. There we go. Sam McKee with his 10 million jobs that he does here at the fan, including real kept from born three to four now because it's the Blue Jays time. Big weekend ahead. Euro, Euro starting. We got as always Blue Jays in town. I just, I, I do wonder if this weekend is, and this is more of like a life thing than a sports thing. I do wonder if this is a weekend that feels like it's always made too far of like a true kickoff to summer, but I don't know, especially in this city, patios are going to be packed because of Euro. It really does feel like this might be like, I don't know, almost like our secondary kickoff to summer weekend. You know what I could see that even, I think the weather's supposed to be good temperatures are going up and it's going to feel more like summer too. Yeah. Anytime there's international soccer, nothing brings people together and gets the patios bumping. No, quite like that. So I'm with people together and then like very quickly forces them apart. That's the best. Bring together with each other. That's why you got your, your, your own little community. Got a little baller. We prepped everything in it. I just got to give a shout out to what's coming on Sunday. My, I would always classify the masters as my favorite major, my favorite golf tournament. There is no day on the calendar. I enjoy more than Father's Day. I was going, I knew you were going to the US Open. I, I've, I've talked about this before. Father's Day is always used to be very complicated day for me. I would be gutted watching all these guys and them with their dad and then with their kids and honestly just like little life. I have to get on my own now. I get to watch it. That's cool. As the line I say to my wife is, I'll be watching the US Open with my child, who is quiet or I'll be watching the US Open alone. But either way, we watch the US Open on Father's Day and I love you, honey. Thank you for taking care of them. But there's just something about this tournament. There is, I am the biggest sucker in the world for fathers and sons and sports and hey, like fathers and daughters too. But that's not my relationship. I don't have a girl. I was not a daughter. So this is what I've got to kind of live with. And it is just such a special weekend to me. The feels, the emotion comes coursing through it. And like, sports is about emotion in terms of passion and wanting to win. But it's also about emotion in terms of the bonds you can create with people. And that's what this weekend just kind of slams home for me. Absolutely. Also, just as a quick side, because I had this observation when it came to the US Open, man, is that course ever brutal? Impossible. Oh my God. Like Rory yesterday on six part three. Yep. Hit his tee shot, landed right in the middle of the green. The thing rolled off the bat. It was insane. It was like, Oh my God. And he's staring at it. He's like, Okay. Oh, it's still going. Oh, Oh, okay. Now it's completely off the green. It's impossible. I can't wait to watch it. And if you are lucky enough to get to watch it with your dad, you can watch guys suck around the green just as bad as you. That's a hard pint versus a fan morning show. I'll be back all by day. Danielle, thanks so much for stepping in. Thank you. Great job guys behind the glass bunk. It's coming up next on sports net five nine of the fans. I love golf. I do. I've always loved it. (dramatic music)
