WEBVTT

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Coming up this week on the Mark
Cast, Well, the alternative football landscape

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is kind of like being stranded on
the desert island, lack of supplies or

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in factions, you name it.
But when the XFL and the USFL are

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coming together with the intent to merge
with the new presumed United Football League,

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is this the last grass for the
current state of alternative football? Without the

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XFL and the USFL working together,
will they die alone? To your inner

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Jack Shepherd, it's time to go
back to the island. But if we

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can't live together, we're going to
die alone. Great show this week,

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joined by a longtime friend of the
podcast, USFL and alternative football historian Paul

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Reese. We are talking the newly
acquired United Football League trademark from the XFL,

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as well as getting Paul Stotts on
the current landscape of alternative football with

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the impending merger. I think that
this is the attempt for probably a decade

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that if this doesn't work, that
it will be very difficult to have real

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money jump back into this and fun
and alternative league. So yeah, absolutely

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that this probably needs to work or
it's just not going to work for a

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while. Then lots of CFL stuff
to talk about this week. Jamie Nye

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of The Green Zone up in Saskatchewan
joining us talking the Riders lose in the

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CFL twenty twenty three season, as
well as sharing his thoughts on everything CFL

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Week twenty. They're done. They're
done with this team. They're done with

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the coaching staff, They're done with
the general manager. They're done done.

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Some people want don't even want them
to make the playoffs. That's how done

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they are with Then, this is
the second straight year. It's absolutely Groundhog's

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Day for the Rough Riders to go
six and five and then lose seventh straight

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last year and now could lose seven
straight this year if they lose to the

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Toronto Argonauts on Saturday. And then
Gord Randall of Crown grid Iron Nation joining

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us again. We're talking to America's
CFL t the BC Lions, the entire

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CFL WES Division playoff matchups and more. I question whether Chris Jones is going

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to be able to put it all
together because so far, as a head

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coach he hasn't. As a coordinator
he has. As a head coach he

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has not. And so that's where
I wonder about things because his tenure as

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a head coach, whether in Saskatchewan
or here in Edmonton, has been marred

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by questionable personnel decisions, has been
marred by at times controversy. It hasn't

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been great and I just don't know
if he's the guy to get that job

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done. Should be a good one. Lack and subscribe. Hey guys,

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we's goo to the marcass read here. Not too many years ago, Lost

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was literally the biggest thing in the
history of the world. Really seemed to

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fall off. I can't figure out
a bigger drop off from season finale till

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now Game of Thrones or loss.
But we are talking staying together, living

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together, not dying alone. Today. Jack Sheppard, Matthew Fox, star

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of that program a big part of
my life going through college, are always

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happy to get a throwback with that
today. Lots of stuff to get into.

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We'll keep this short. Talking with
Paul Reese, like I said,

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with our Sport Central Paul knowable USFL
historian altern to the football historian, wanted

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to get Paul's thoughts on kind of
the new trademarks next week with the UFL.

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Does he think you we're bringing teams
from the UFL, which we're not

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but getting Paul's thoughts on that with
his he make of the XFL and USFL

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wanting to work together to merge.
Lots of good stuff with Paul and then

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a double trouble CFL guests this week
with Jamie and I. I appreciate him

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taking time after work up in Saskatchewan
and then gorg Randall making time during work.

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Really appreciate that talking CFL Week twenty
and getting into a lot more of

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the playoff stuff, off season stuff. Lots to get into there. A

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little bit of a sleepy weekend with
the three games, but I should be

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exciting nonetheless, So hope you guys
enjoy I think that will do it for

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me today. We will see you
at the end. Thanks as always,

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Like and subscribe, well, I
appreciate it back here, trying to remember

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the last time we had Paul reeson. We've had a lot of new subscribers

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joined just kind of during all of
this, you know, shenanigans with the

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United Football League, National String Football
League kind of merger stuff. Paul is

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our resident USFL historian, all football
historian, runs our sports Central, written

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a book about the USFL. Anything
else that's kind of set the context because

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I think your unique guest to get
on here to talk about this stuff.

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If so, for those who aren't
familiar with our Sports Central, we cover

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minor league sports essentially, so everything
below the big four professional sports leagues,

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and so over the years we've kept
an eye on all the xfls and the

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new USFL United Football League all those, so those have all and in our

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purview over the years. So you
know, we've gone through a lot of

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this, and obviously we've shared our
qualms about the USFL and everything. What

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did you know and the XFL to
that regard, but what like when you

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heard all this, you know,
XFL reaching out, USFL merging together here,

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intent to merge, what did you
what did you make of that?

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Here after the first season of the
XFL. It's kind of funny. I

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kind of flashed back to a conversation
that we had had earlier before the XFL

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season started in and how much I
remember having to pull the reins back on

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don't talk about merger, don't talk
about potential merger, because I think so

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many of us had that kind of
out in the distance. We thought,

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you know, eventually, this is
the way that this is almost going to

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have to go. It doesn't It
doesn't make a lot of sense for these

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leaks to be competing against each other
for not the largest audience out there.

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So no surprise at all that it
happened. You know, these things tend

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to be quiet until there's actually a
lot of force behind what's going on,

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and that's exactly what we saw happen. Were you surprised that happened so quickly

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in terms of you know, the
Forbes report comes out, XFL losing money,

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Darryl Johnston coming out saying we were
disappointed with everything season two. I

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mean because to me, this,
you know, the quickness of this doesn't

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speak to both of these leagues.
We're tremendously excited with how you know,

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season two of the USFL, Season
one of the XFL turned out, you

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know, and I looked at that
Forbes report a lot differently than a lot

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of other people. Did you know, when I saw sixty million dollars in

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losses, I thought, oh,
my goodness, you know, I really

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thought it was going to be one
hundred million, you know, for them

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to have done that, well,
I was a little bit surprised. We

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saw the erosion of the USFL's TV
rating so I was not, you know,

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particularly surprised to see that they were
looking for a different answer, you

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know, And we'll see how much
the XFL actually contributed to that, or

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if the USFL had picked up a
lot of initial interest just based on curiosity

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and that wasn't necessarily there in year
two anymore. You know, the USFL,

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I think they put together a better
TV product in year two because they

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had a few more crowds, and
yet that didn't translate in the ratings,

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which is what's really important to Fox. So they, you know, they

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you know, we'll see what they
do as far as the merger, and

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I do hope that we see kind
of the best of both worlds, so

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the best that each league has to
offer. I guess I would love to

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be a fly on the wall here
in some of these rooms with these executives

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of like, what were your expectations
going in? What did you think?

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Because and I told this story before
on here. I remember the first time

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Paul and I XFL, you know, episode one, We're I'm like,

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we're gonna put this on YouTube.
Man, We're gonna like all these people

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are gonna be watching, and You're
like, it's not you know, and

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I try to talk to people now
and they're like, well, okay,

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like what do you do. I'm
like, well, you know, it's

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like it's really niche and like we're
really good in our space, but it's

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it's such a minute thing, and
I'm just curious, like because I've heard

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people talk, you know XFL ticket
people, you know, pre all this

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stuff like oh, yeah, we're
going to be a top five, six

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seven league here in terms of selling
tickets, and you're like, what's like,

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what's realistic? Do you Does it
strike you that maybe Redbird got a

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little bit of cold feet here and
that's why we're moving in this direction.

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I honestly did not really believe that
Redbird was in it for the long haul.

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I think that they flip and so
they saw an opportunity they reached out.

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I'd had somebody who is familiar with
with both organizations, both Redbird and

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Fox, and he had told me
months ago you better believe he's reached out

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already to Fox. So it wasn't
particularly surprising to me that that was you

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know, Redbird is it was bankrolling
the XFL you know, the Rock and

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Danny Garcia had you know, huge
management roles to play and so that you

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know, they did a lot of
the day to day things, but Redbird

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was the money behind the league,
and so really it was going to go

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as far as Redbird was willing to
go. And I think as soon as

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they saw an opportunity to to turn
this around to maybe make a little bit

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of money or possibly even just stem
the losses, maybe they didn't see an

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end to the losses as quickly as
they had hoped that they took it.

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I want to get well, we're
rehashing a little bit of the conversations we've

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had the last couple of weeks soon
as I want to get your take on

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it, and then obviously we'll transition
here in the kind of the the trade

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marks and just kind of the you're
like repeating history. It is all this,

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But you know, we've had conversations
the last couple of weeks about dragging

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the audience outright asking them for a
lot of patients here you've you know,

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followed all of these and you know
the xfl oh one twenty twenty, Like

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it feels to me like, okay, we're just handing this off now,

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like we're kind of done with this, moving this on in terms of the

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all football fan like, how strenuous
is this to kind of live through this

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this world like that this is this
is what we signed up for it.

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We've done this before, you know, and I look back at you know,

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when the USFL was folding. You
know, they have this lawsuit going

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on. Okay, we have a
lot of hopes on a lawsuit. We

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have a fall season scheduled, and
you know, all of it was you

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know, all of it ended up
deteriorating. And we've seen XFL they get

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out of that first year. The
TV ratings were relatively horrible in two thousand

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and one, but everything else is
ready to go. We're ready to go.

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We're ready to go with our cable
partners. And all of a sudden,

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NBC pulls the plug League's dead.
Uh, and the NFL Europe the

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World League, you know, two
years in the US it's dead. Uh.

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Then the World League, which switch
commissioners, it's dead. So you

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know, we've seen this. It
seems to be a never ending list of

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things that will kill these leagues or
at least, you know, fundamentally change

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them. It's part of the deal
we've we've talked on here in the theme

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of the episode this week is kind
of die die apart, or it's from

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loss, it's lived lived together,
die apart or whatever. And we've talked

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on here, you know, at
this time where we had two competing leagues,

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right, this is kind of the
the greatest chance, right for any

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of these to work where you have
Fox owning all this, doing all that

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and read like we've talked all the
money. Uh, now them are already

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coming together. Like is this kind
of the last frontier or for this time

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period where and like if this doesn't
work, is there any circumstance you can

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see where this is actually pans out
in the future. You know, it's

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going to be a while. I
think that this is the attempt, you

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know, for probably a decade that
if this doesn't work, that it will

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be very difficult to have real money
jump back into this and fun and alternative

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leak. So yeah, absolutely that
this probably needs to work or it's just

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not going to work for a while. And you would have to look at

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some fundamental changes probably in the media
landscape and how they're able to monetize viewers

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behind a television or a screen somewhere. So you'll have to see some continued

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evolution of how they're able to monetize
that because to me, here if you're

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an outsider looking at this, and
you know, like I said, Fox

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is set up for this, it's
you know, filler content. They're able

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to write off a lot of the
things like we're the ultimate goal of these

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We even had been Fisher reporting even
last week, like the goal is still

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to sell these franchises off, right, And I think three to four years

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now it was originally seven years.
Like if I'm sitting there like, why

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would I ever Like you guys can't
even get through a season two see like

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you're you know this is a huge
next step, well and you're the I

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think what makes it particularly challenging from
an investment perspective is that as an investor,

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what kind of say, what kind
of input are you going to have?

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You're always going to be out voted
by Fox, So what exactly what

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is your what is your control?
What is your influence? Otherwise you're just

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giving money away in an obvious attempt
to look like a local big shot and

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that's really the only thing that's going
to be on the line there. So

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I think it's hard sell unless you're
willing to give up some control. It

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feels very much like the CFL in
that regard of like, hey, I

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own a sports team, I'm going
to own it for fifteen twenty years until

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I get tired of it or to
the five whatever, you know, and

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then kind of pass it on.
I just all of this, I don't

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know is this giving you? And
I know, like you said, we

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live through all this, and you
live through this longer than any of us

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probably listening to the program here,
But does this give you pause? Like

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maybe this isn't the right space for
these leagues to try to operate, Like

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maybe there does need to be kind
of change here. Yeah, And you

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know, it's such a weird thing
is that we were kind of blessed with

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two leagues and all these games going
on and year around football for a year,

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and you do wonder if there was
a way for these parties to come

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together at the very beginning and come
into this past season with all of their

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resources dedicated to one project, if
you know, maybe we'd be in a

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better spot. So, you know, I'm kind of the eternal optimist here

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where it's like, Okay, well
maybe this could still work in some way.

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You know, if the if the
chips fall correctly. So you know,

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I don't know that. I think
there'll be somebody else who takes a

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flyer on it in the future if
this doesn't work out. And you know,

207
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I don't want to sound too fatalistic. We don't know if it'll work

208
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out or not. You know,
certainly it's an uphill climb. Not all

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00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:22.120
the details have been worked out or
at least announced yet, so you know,

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there's a lot that we have to
see and maybe we'll come out in

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the next few weeks and we'll say, well, this does look a lot

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00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:35.360
better. You know, they are
leveraging their strengths. We'll see because we've

213
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really tried to avoid on here like
Okay, it's going to be this or

214
00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:41.879
that, you know, because there's
a million different kind of Okay, it's

215
00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:45.879
going to be the XFL conference and
the whatever. But whatever happens, you

216
00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:48.120
know, the idea of having you
know, a sixteen team, you know,

217
00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:52.240
a combination of resources here and everyone
in their market seems you know,

218
00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:58.799
far from whatever this is actually going
to look like. Do you sense you

219
00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:03.159
know, for the fan base is
to me. To me, it's probably

220
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eight to two people you know negative
about it. The positive of Okay,

221
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this is a step back no matter
what, or I hey, I have

222
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a team in Seattle. I don't
know, Like, how are you viewing

223
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kind of this edition by subtraction moving
forward with whatever the look like. Well,

224
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I think you have to look at
it from the perspective of both leagues.

225
00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:22.159
So I mean, obviously we've already
talked about Redbird Capital and whether it

226
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be kind of an opportunity they saw
or cold feet. It doesn't look like

227
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they were in it for the long
haul. So the XFL, what's going

228
00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:36.039
to be out of options sooner rather
than later. You look at the USFL,

229
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there's only there's only one reason that
they even listen to the XFL,

230
00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:47.480
And I'll let the audience figure that
out. You can believe what's been said

231
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online, you can believe the corporate
talk, or you can look at what's

232
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actually happening. They listened to the
XFL, why all right? So they

233
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need something and so it's an opportunity
for them to work together. I think

234
00:17:03.319 --> 00:17:08.359
that this was probably the path forward. You know from day one that this

235
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was almost inevitable. Now it's just
a lot of push and pull and we'll

236
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see which which business plan they're going
to pursue or if it's a mix or

237
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you know, I think that both
teams brought some things to the table,

238
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and I'm hoping that they are able
to pick out the best of the bunch.

239
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:33.440
I mean, and we've talked many
times in the past that we like

240
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seeing football in front of crowds.
It just brings an extra element to the

241
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game and to the to the entertainment
value of the television product. And so,

242
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you know, I think that the
thing that gives most XFL fans pauses

243
00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:56.880
talk about continued hubs and games in
front of next to nobody. And I

244
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guess to a degree, I don't
understand the love affair with at Ohio.

245
00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.960
It's a great stadium, it's but
it's not a big market, so you're

246
00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:10.200
only going to have a handful of
thousand people there at best. Uh,

247
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it's cheap. Okay, well,
so it was a local high school field

248
00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:18.799
here. Why aren't we playing there? You know? There, I'm really

249
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hopeful that they will pick out the
best, you know, no matter who

250
00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:29.559
ends up having control of this product. Yeah, and I've heard mixed you

251
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know stuff coming from you know,
inside the league, outside of the league.

252
00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:34.160
Okay, Well, no that you
know, you can look and see

253
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like there are things that we're doing
better, things that they're doing better.

254
00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:41.400
I mean, I I think there's
an ideal world where that works. I

255
00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:42.839
guess to me, it's just you
know, and you're an entrepreneur, right,

256
00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:48.319
I'm like that there there has to
be some level of risk associated with

257
00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:52.759
starting one of these, right,
And and to me, you know,

258
00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:56.240
like I took out a loan when
I started my video company and bought cameras

259
00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:00.319
and everything like, and you've lived
through the history of this right numerous umerous

260
00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:03.599
times, and this you know,
people jumping in I guess, not understanding

261
00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:07.480
the risk and understanding the costs.
I mean, Vince McMahon was bleeding money

262
00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:11.400
back in twenty twenty, you know, even before COVID and everything like.

263
00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:15.119
Does it surprise you that this like
we're so willing to jump in and maybe

264
00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:18.440
not even realize what the risk that
we have with these leagues. To me,

265
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that's the heartening thing is that we
see people people of substance, corporations

266
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of substance who are jumping into this
this this weird alternative pro football universe.

267
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When when people like Redbird Capital on
Fox even make the attempt, there's something

268
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that they see, They see that
potential, they see the value of building

269
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an asset. And in Fox's circumstance, you can see, you know,

270
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how ESPN is struggling with its rights
fees payments, just like every broadcaster is.

271
00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:56.559
They're selling out billions of dollars in
rights fees. Well, Fox looks

272
00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:57.920
at them and says, well,
if we can develop our own thing,

273
00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:03.440
our own thing can draw ratings and
we never have to shell out rights fees

274
00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.359
for it, we have an incredible
cash cow. And so you know,

275
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there was this feeling that, you
know, Fox could be playing the long

276
00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:17.359
game here that they see that potential. What's kind of been a hitch in

277
00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:22.920
their plan is we saw real decline
in year two in the places that matter,

278
00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:29.640
and in particular the television ratings for
Fox. This is a television program

279
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and television programs get canceled all the
time, and we see that. We

280
00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:37.119
saw that happen with the first XFL
and it can happen out of the blue.

281
00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:41.000
So you know, they've they've got
to do something different and they've got

282
00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:45.119
to show some growth in year three. I guess I just wish that any

283
00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:51.160
of these and I don't even know
you know the XFL and they're the wordy

284
00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:56.119
behind their branding I think was more
than this. But to me, a

285
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lot of these boil down to one
hundred million people watch NFL football or whatever

286
00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:04.000
the number is. If we can
get five percent of that, ten percent

287
00:21:04.039 --> 00:21:08.440
of that, like this is great
and not really I guess understanding the other

288
00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:12.200
work that needs to go into that. And you know, I've said on

289
00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:17.079
here like the USFL feels lazy to
me. It feels like you like football

290
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:22.920
here is more football and not necessarily
understanding maybe you know why these fan bases

291
00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:26.480
have people that care about them and
that you can't just Okay, Tampa didn't

292
00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:27.880
work this year, we're going to
shut that down and we're going to bring

293
00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.480
it back later, or like with
the XFL, well, Vegas didn't work,

294
00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:34.519
we're gonna like you still had six
thousand people there every week. Like

295
00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:37.240
I mean, at some point it
needs to matter. It can't just be

296
00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:41.279
all about dollars and cents, right, And you know, you look back

297
00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:45.640
at the early years of the American
Football League in the nineteen sixties, and

298
00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:49.160
if you go back and look at
the Oakland Raiders attendances the first couple of

299
00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:56.640
years there were three thousand people in
that place and so and behind the scenes,

300
00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:00.119
they had no money. They were
being bank by the other teams,

301
00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:06.759
and they weren't the only ones.
What's missing, I think is that that

302
00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:12.559
unity of purpose that for instance,
the American Football League owners had when one

303
00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:18.160
stumbles, there was another one there
to pick them up. And so you

304
00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:22.680
know, we are missing that and
that's I think a huge missing piece in

305
00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.960
the spring football landscape. Its just
I was just listening to First Take yesterday

306
00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.000
and they had on Adam Silver,
right, the NBA commissioner, and he's

307
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:33.920
talking, I guess there's I'm not
the biggest NBA fan, but they're starting

308
00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:37.079
a new in season tournament to kind
of try to build out interest before the

309
00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:40.880
All Star break and all that,
and you know he's talking, well,

310
00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:44.200
we got to do this. You
can't just do the one one year of

311
00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:47.119
this and then hey it's getting maud. You you got to build this year

312
00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:48.799
and year and year and year and
year the kind of give value there,

313
00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.559
And it doesn't feel like any of
these alt leagues are at that point where

314
00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:56.920
hey, you have to come you
got to come back. And it's hard

315
00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:00.359
because you know, the NBA has
the luxury of time. They could do

316
00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:07.599
this for five years and really not
impact the bottom line at all. All

317
00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:12.160
of these leagues, these all spring
football leagues. They could lose hundreds and

318
00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:18.319
hundreds of millions of dollars in that
time. It's a different deal because they

319
00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:22.640
have so much riding on this,
and because it's so expensive, they don't

320
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:27.440
have the revenue source of the NBA. And we were just talking about if

321
00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:33.519
these leagues look at it as if
we can even draw this tiny minuscule percentage

322
00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:37.759
of the NFL audience will be okay. To degree you really have to say

323
00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:42.079
the NFL is irrelevant to these guys. What you have to do is you

324
00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:45.519
have to be in there and you
have to compete against the NBA. You

325
00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:48.680
have to compete against the NHL,
you have to compete against March Madness,

326
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:55.599
you get into early season baseball depending
on how let you go. So those

327
00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:59.720
are what you have to compete against, in addition to all the local stuff.

328
00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:06.799
So you know it, it's difficult
in terms of a kind of transitioning

329
00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:10.000
here to the trademark stuff and we'll
get out of here. You know,

330
00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:12.720
the obviously the NSFL stuff was trademarked. You know, which is funny,

331
00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:15.400
right, Like I was the holding
company and we kind of lived through all

332
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:21.839
this and then now obviously this week
the XFL registering the United Football League trademarks.

333
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:26.119
Are you, first off, are
you surprised that having us even gone

334
00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:30.559
through all of these USFL lawsuits and
everything that, you know, covering all

335
00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:33.960
of this the last couple of years, for the new USFL to acquire all

336
00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:37.839
that XFL obviously pain to bring the
you know that stuff out of the bankruptcy,

337
00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:40.839
Like, are you surprised that they
would so willingly just okay, we're

338
00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:44.319
going to brand this into something new. I am a little bit surprised because

339
00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:48.920
of the efforts that they have put
into attaining, you know, making peace

340
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:53.000
with the original USFL guys. Uh
for you, they've really gone to a

341
00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:59.440
lot of lengths to acquire and and
and utilize this. They've leaned in the

342
00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:02.559
history now, especially in year two, they were able to do that more.

343
00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:07.440
Uh. Part of me, I
wonder if they've seen that the demographics

344
00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:11.880
have skewed a little bit older and
that they kind of want to get away

345
00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:17.599
from that a little bit. So, Yeah, it has been a little

346
00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:22.240
bit surprising to me because I mean, it really derailed all of season one

347
00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:25.680
and kind of I think the goal
that they wanted to do dealing with these

348
00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:29.559
lawsuits coming in this year. It
didn't do a lot for me. But

349
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.519
again, I'm not the I'm not
the demo for that, but it does

350
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:34.720
just you know, the time and
energy and money, like you said,

351
00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:40.759
and even even whatever that settlement was, it just seems weird that they would,

352
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:42.960
especially for the USFL, like I
get Fox and okay, Danny and

353
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:47.359
the Rock, like we bought this
thing out. Okay. To me,

354
00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:51.440
it felt like Fox was so controlling
kind of of this ip and and and

355
00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:53.359
steam rolled so much of that that
they would give that up just as very

356
00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:59.000
shocking. Oh yes, and there, I mean there's still things going on

357
00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:03.640
where they're trying to peck that ip. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah,

358
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:07.839
And that's that's why it's a little
bit surprising that they would change the name.

359
00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:15.119
Perhaps that was the most palatable solution
for their new partners potentially, or

360
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:19.200
they just see a value in being
able to build off a different brand,

361
00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:27.519
perhaps in terms of the UFL trademarks, what what you know, what is

362
00:26:27.559 --> 00:26:30.680
the history of that. I know
that the was it the National grid Iron

363
00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:33.880
League. They were kind of a
scammy league. They they I think,

364
00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:37.359
still have an outstanding trademark, but
that to me isn't the bigger issue.

365
00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:41.400
But to me, the MSFL was
never going to work because the NFL exists,

366
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:45.640
and that's not public that they've said
anything, but I can imagine.

367
00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:48.319
And Josh Gerban, who had the
report about the UFL, basically said as

368
00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:52.960
much, what are your thoughts of
them? Is this just these are three

369
00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:55.640
initials that we could get control of, or like, what do you what

370
00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:59.640
do you make of this? We
just talked about the USFL and the history

371
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:03.920
there and the length that Fox went
through to gain control of that ip.

372
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:10.200
This is a different deal that This
is just I believe it's just a name.

373
00:27:10.279 --> 00:27:18.559
There's no there isn't any good feelings
that exist about the old United Football

374
00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:22.799
League. It was such a flash
in the Pan League and even even alternative

375
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:27.200
football fans had a hard time finding
it. So it does seem like it's

376
00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:30.599
just a name. It's kind of
close to the last name, which is

377
00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:37.960
advantageous. They could do something different
with it, and it really does reflect

378
00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:42.079
kind of a union with the XFL, So it's a good name from that

379
00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:48.960
perspective. But as far as the
history of it goes, there's really nothing

380
00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:53.359
that I believe that Fox would or
would want to lean into there. Do

381
00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:59.599
you think that there's enough scammy stuff
in the past or enough failure there associated

382
00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:00.880
with the more said that people are
going through? So what is this?

383
00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:06.519
Nine to twelve was the last iteration
this was played right right, and that

384
00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:11.400
was that it was such a weird
league that it was. It was owned

385
00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:15.920
principally by a guy named Bill Hambrick, and he had been a minority owner

386
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:19.680
of the Oakland Invaders of the USFL
years before, made like a billion dollars

387
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:27.960
in Silicon Valley, but he never
funded this league. So it was perpetually

388
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:33.559
playing what looked like a test season
for some reason, never had more than

389
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:37.519
five teams in a year, played
parts of four different seasons, and just

390
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:42.400
stumbled throughout. The last two seasons
were abbreviated. They ended up canceling the

391
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:48.359
final weeks, holding impromptu championships.
They had to get on and they had

392
00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:52.359
to beg the players to finish out
another week of the twenty twelve season,

393
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:56.519
and then ended up stiffing them all. Dennis Green, the former NFL coach,

394
00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:02.480
had a lawsuit outstanding for you know, not receiving his pay, and

395
00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:07.240
it was guy after guy after guy, and there were it was substantial money

396
00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.799
that could have back the league,
but it was just never really funded.

397
00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:17.640
They seem to have been banking on
an NFL workstoppage and that they would get

398
00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:22.440
a TV contract out of that deal
and somehow hold on to the TV contract

399
00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:27.680
after the NFL rezoom playing and they
would split this huge TV contract amongst their

400
00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:32.720
four teams or something. I don't
really understand what they were thinking, but

401
00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:37.400
if you're playing in the fall on
Wednesday and Friday nights on obscure table channels,

402
00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:41.480
you're probably resigning yourself to anonymity.
And that's exactly what they did.

403
00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:45.359
And just to clarify here, and
you can clarify as well. You know,

404
00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:48.440
I've seen a lot of people like, oh, does that mean they've

405
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:52.200
acquired all the marks or they've acquired
all the teams. I mean they've registered

406
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.400
the UFL trademark, the United Football
League trademark for a various number of you

407
00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:00.839
know, never mediums, right like
entertainment and clothing and streaming and kind of

408
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:04.960
all those different things. But in
terms of there's no other teams or anything

409
00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:08.160
that they're acquiring through all this,
No, and I wouldn't see the value

410
00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:12.480
in doing so. They had some
kind of flash in the pan, short

411
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:19.559
term success stories in Omaha and Sacramento, maybe Hartford and Virginia Beach to some

412
00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:23.559
small degree, but really, at
the end of the day, there that

413
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:30.119
IP is probably not worth anything.
It's funny you're talking here about the obscure

414
00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.519
TV network. Hey, it's CBS
Sports Network. Man, that's that's the

415
00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:40.359
CFLs And that was a huge step
up for the UFL. They were on

416
00:30:40.839 --> 00:30:44.680
well, you know, they were
on HD net and they were so and

417
00:30:44.759 --> 00:30:47.759
you had to find You had to
hunt on a Wednesday or a Friday night

418
00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:52.079
to find these guys. And you
know, especially the first year, they

419
00:30:52.119 --> 00:30:57.640
had this brilliant idea where every team, all four would wear the league colors.

420
00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:03.359
So you had you had this black, blue, and green. Everybody

421
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:07.799
was those colors, so you had
to really look at the helmet to even

422
00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:11.400
figure out who was playing. And
the crowd was no help because they were

423
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:18.119
minuscule crowds everywhere, and they ended
up switching venues to try to make it

424
00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:21.559
look better and that that didn't work
at all. So it was it was

425
00:31:21.559 --> 00:31:26.200
a bizarre kind of circus atmosphere last
thing for me and just you know,

426
00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:30.799
obviously there's no connection here now more
than just kind of ironic. I guess

427
00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:33.839
that Vince vincick Man, right when
he was going to do the twenty twenty

428
00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:38.079
version, had mulled around right with
this last to own the trademarks for that.

429
00:31:38.119 --> 00:31:41.319
Am I understanding that right back in
twenty eighteen before he settled on the

430
00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:45.039
XFL. That was my understanding too, that he had looked at the United

431
00:31:45.079 --> 00:31:49.359
Football League as a name for his
league. You know, what's the old

432
00:31:49.480 --> 00:31:55.279
is new again and it's it's weird
how time is a flat circle with all

433
00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:57.799
of this stuff and whatever, some
of the things that they've gotten the equation

434
00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:01.319
figured out, it seems to come
back again. And there was a there

435
00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:06.039
was a prior United Football League in
the early sixties sixty one to sixty four,

436
00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:09.119
which was really more of a minor
kind of semi pro outfit. So

437
00:32:09.160 --> 00:32:15.519
that these names have a way of
being recycled a little over and over anything

438
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:19.640
else here. How are you just
optimistic moving forward? How are you feeling

439
00:32:19.640 --> 00:32:22.759
one to ten here? So optimistic
might be a little bit of a stretch,

440
00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:27.480
but you know, kind of and
probably just you know, with so

441
00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:31.880
many fans just waiting to see,
kind of hoping that that the league will

442
00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:37.519
actually strengthen itself, hoping that a
lot of the markets get preserved, that

443
00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:40.680
where there has been some home games
played, that you know, we're able

444
00:32:40.680 --> 00:32:45.000
to preserve as many of those markets
as possible. That would be the ideal

445
00:32:45.079 --> 00:32:50.680
thing. Interesting times here, Always
something new, just when you know,

446
00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:52.480
I was kind of getting moored a
little bit of all this and like man,

447
00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:54.680
just when I think I'm out,
they pulled me back in and we

448
00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:58.319
got new, a new drama here. So Paul, I appreciate it.

449
00:32:58.359 --> 00:33:01.079
Like I said, with our Sports
Central everything else, USFL historian and all

450
00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:05.440
all football history here at this point, really appreciate your time. Thank you

451
00:33:05.480 --> 00:33:12.839
for having me on read Good to
see you again. Well we have Jamie

452
00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:15.880
and I back on here from the
Green Zone. I was gonna we're talking

453
00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:19.720
CFL football here, I will say, uh, cracking off to not a

454
00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:25.359
good start this season. And our
boy Regina Zone, Jordan every really let

455
00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:29.839
me down here, at least Saskatchewan
Zone, so very upset over the weekend.

456
00:33:29.880 --> 00:33:32.960
He missed his shootout shot. Yeah, he's a Regina guy. Ebbs

457
00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:37.960
former Regina pat did, was he
is he fighting? Now? What is

458
00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:40.599
happening with Jordan Everly? He's getting
in the fist of cuffs going on,

459
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.559
And we were about two minutes into
the game. Yeah he was because we

460
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:49.759
don't like mccarr because he checked McCann
back in the playoffs. But yeah,

461
00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:52.240
every was going. They said he
had some past history. I think they

462
00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:54.759
played together him and the guy he
was fighting. But at least Connor Bdard

463
00:33:54.799 --> 00:33:58.400
is not the bus. He's putting
in goals for the Chicago Blackhawks, so

464
00:33:58.440 --> 00:34:00.720
that's good. Yeah, oh yeah
he is. And it's not like you

465
00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:06.359
have a lack of discussion about Connor
Bdard in the National Hockey League either.

466
00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:09.559
It's also you can't avoid it.
He is. He's the guy right now

467
00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:15.320
in the NHL. Uh, check
him out when the Blackhawks are in Seattle,

468
00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:20.000
check him out. Obviously. I
did see his teammate was like,

469
00:34:20.039 --> 00:34:22.239
I think we're kind of overdoing this
a little bit. I feel like that

470
00:34:22.360 --> 00:34:25.119
today perusing Twitter with Nathan Urk being
elevated, you know, to the active

471
00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:29.000
roster, I'm like, oh my
god, oh my god, it's like

472
00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:35.039
it's happening. It's happening. Here
we go. Wait, his thoughts here?

473
00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:37.960
So we're here. I'm really curious
because obviously you're really checked in,

474
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:42.360
you know, tuned into the Sascatchran
market and everything, like what is Ryder

475
00:34:42.519 --> 00:34:45.280
Nation? Whether are their thoughts this
year? Because it's been a weird season

476
00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:47.079
for the Riders. They're done.
They're done with this team. They're done

477
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:51.079
with the coaching staff, They're done
with the general manager. They're done.

478
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:53.639
They're done. Some people want don't
even want him to make the playoffs,

479
00:34:53.639 --> 00:34:59.599
that's how done they are with Then
this is the second straight year. It's

480
00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:04.480
absolutely Groundhog's day for the rough Riders
to go six and five and then lose

481
00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:08.480
seventh straight last year and now could
lose seven straight this year if they lose

482
00:35:08.519 --> 00:35:14.800
to the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday.
So it is a lot of frustration over

483
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:19.159
where the direction of this team has
gone. So I'm looking here. I

484
00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:23.239
have the playoff scenario, Calgary wins
and Saskatchewan loses. Calgary's in Saskatchewan wins,

485
00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:28.239
Calgary loses. Calgary's playing BC and
you know, I mean BC has

486
00:35:28.280 --> 00:35:30.519
been known to kind of drop.
You know, I've had my fair share

487
00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:36.079
of frustrating moments here, but that's
a weird spot where they don't even want

488
00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:38.280
to make the playoffs because I do
think you need some sense of accountability here

489
00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:42.559
after everything that's gone down. No, yeah, that's exactly what That's what

490
00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:45.599
people are waiting for, is pretty
much the changes to happen. What's going

491
00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:52.880
to happen, when's it going to
happen? To just move on with what

492
00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:58.920
we're calling like the stink the rot
of this, just to go, okay,

493
00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:02.320
let's move on now. Of course, there's always the chance that you

494
00:36:02.360 --> 00:36:07.880
never know, if someone catches lightning
in a bottle and they have an unbelievable,

495
00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:12.320
unpredictable playoff run. But there's no
way this team's going into BC and

496
00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:15.760
going into Winnipeg and winning football games. I just don't see much of it.

497
00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:20.480
Just maybe one, but not twice. So yeah, in terms of

498
00:36:20.599 --> 00:36:22.519
kind of where all this you know, because obviously the Trevor Harris and everything,

499
00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:27.800
I mean, is it all go
back to now or they're further deeper

500
00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:30.320
issues here going the end of the
season. It's clearly deeper than just losing

501
00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:36.559
your quarterback. Because last year they
had a quarterback, they lost seventh straight

502
00:36:37.719 --> 00:36:42.840
and it was you go, are
they quitting on the coach or they I

503
00:36:42.840 --> 00:36:45.760
don't know, maybe they Okay,
let's see what happens when they get rid

504
00:36:45.800 --> 00:36:50.639
of A. C. Leonard and
some of the bad boys. I'm trying

505
00:36:50.679 --> 00:36:55.519
to remember the term Craig. Craig
Dickinson actually had a term he renegades or

506
00:36:55.559 --> 00:37:00.840
something like that on the team last
year. So they like ac Les gone

507
00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:04.239
and Mike Adams no longer here,
and of course the Garrett Marino thing.

508
00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:08.679
He's out to Duke Williams by Shaq
Evans, he's out Cody Fajardo, Jason

509
00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:15.159
Moss. So they do this change
over and you're thinking, Okay, that's

510
00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:19.519
where they put the blame the coaching
staff. Everybody went, it's that's the

511
00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:23.159
problem. It'll be better. They're
worse. They are a worse football team

512
00:37:23.199 --> 00:37:28.960
than they were last year. And
some of that is the quarterback. But

513
00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:32.519
I think it's preparation, it's emotion, it's a lot of different things that

514
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:37.519
has soured the Saskatchewan rough Riders.
Side note, what do you make of

515
00:37:37.559 --> 00:37:40.400
Cody's season in Montreal? I mean, I know he was hurt, and

516
00:37:40.519 --> 00:37:44.119
I mean they're still and they seem
like they were hot. Now they're kind

517
00:37:44.119 --> 00:37:46.639
of you know, at least cleaned
to second there, But were you pleasantly

518
00:37:46.679 --> 00:37:51.440
surprised or what did you make?
I think Cody Fajar, I think Jason

519
00:37:51.480 --> 00:37:54.480
Moss has done a pretty darn good
job to have that team play to the

520
00:37:54.519 --> 00:38:00.400
strengths of an offense led by Cody
Fajardo. They are this second lowest team

521
00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:06.280
and offensive touchdowns. Like, it's
not like Cody Fajardo has led this team

522
00:38:06.360 --> 00:38:09.320
to second place. Cody Fajardo has
been part of a team that has led

523
00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:14.639
them to second place. But I
think it's more Jason Moss and Noel Thorpe

524
00:38:14.679 --> 00:38:19.079
have done a pretty darn good job
on finding what they're good at, finding

525
00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:22.119
how to win football games, and
that's what has had Montreal. But I

526
00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:28.880
think Cody Fajardo definitely and Jason mosk
Can definitely, you know, flex a

527
00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:34.320
little bit saying yeah, where you
were the scapegoats in Saskatchewan, there were

528
00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:39.719
deeper problems and you got what you
got for Saskatchewan. I mean not to

529
00:38:39.760 --> 00:38:44.239
have it be a deep dive much
for all podcasts here, but like this

530
00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:46.079
really could have been a wasted season
for them, which is everything and the

531
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:50.320
ownership coming in and all the changes
I mean it's really remarkable here that.

532
00:38:50.639 --> 00:38:52.239
I mean they were second last year
in the East, second this year and

533
00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:55.000
you know they have one game away
from potentially getting to the finals there.

534
00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:58.519
I mean, it could have been
a lot worse for them as well if

535
00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:01.360
you look at Saskatchewan. Yeah,
I was looking at Montreal as potentially being

536
00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:05.159
third or fourth in the East Division, Like when you looked at it on

537
00:39:05.199 --> 00:39:07.719
paper, they lost a lot of
talent out of that team, A lot

538
00:39:07.719 --> 00:39:15.400
of guys left, So that's what
I was maybe looking at. But again,

539
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:21.639
Nolthorpe's defense has been outstanding, Cody
has managed the games very well,

540
00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:25.280
and now that they're starting to find
a little bit of identity on the ground

541
00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:30.880
game with like Fletcher and when standback's
healthy, that could be a dangerous team

542
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:36.559
if they can run the ball with
that core three with Cody also using his

543
00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:44.960
legs come playoff time. Although beating
Toronto is not going to be easy in

544
00:39:45.079 --> 00:39:47.320
terms of Saskatchewan here, like you
said, you know, people want the

545
00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:52.400
wholesale changes. Farhan was on last
week and like, there's right, there's

546
00:39:52.719 --> 00:39:57.800
not all the contracts end the same
rider. They're overlapping where they're like it

547
00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:00.079
makes it challenging to kind of bring
in fresh I'd made me next shrug,

548
00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:02.679
What do you I mean? I
know people are asking for people's heads and

549
00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:07.400
everything else, but like, what
is realistically possible there? I think it

550
00:40:07.559 --> 00:40:13.360
is general Well, Jeremy O Day
is interesting. I'm not sure the whole

551
00:40:13.400 --> 00:40:19.280
coaching staff could be gassed, like
it's just go get done just away.

552
00:40:19.480 --> 00:40:22.800
You're fired by a lot of them. I think all of them are on

553
00:40:22.840 --> 00:40:27.480
the last year of their deals,
so you can get rid of those contracts.

554
00:40:28.440 --> 00:40:30.119
Well, Craig Dickinson's the biggest one. He's up at the end of

555
00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:31.920
the year. Jeremi O Day is
up at the end of the year.

556
00:40:31.960 --> 00:40:35.800
If you want to go to the
general manager spot. A lot of the

557
00:40:35.840 --> 00:40:40.360
attention is actually on the president,
Craig Dickenson or Craig Reynolds, on how

558
00:40:40.440 --> 00:40:47.719
far up it goes and does he
take anything? Do they change the president?

559
00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:52.280
Because when Jim Hobson was here,
that was, you know, a

560
00:40:52.360 --> 00:40:58.320
decade of brilliance. They made it
to a bunch of great cups four gray

561
00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:02.880
cups sorry one two lost to in
pretty well ten years of Jim Hopps,

562
00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:07.960
and then since that time they haven't
made a great Cup. They have hosted

563
00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:13.079
some playoff games, but it has
been all over the place on good bad

564
00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:17.320
uh. And there's some fans who
feel they're they're saying they feel taken for

565
00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:22.360
granted, that's never a good thing, and they're they're talking about turning in

566
00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:25.559
their season tickets, not renewing,
and that that's what does the talking when

567
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:30.800
it gets to the president and CEO
is who's spending the money and who's not?

568
00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:34.079
Because I get that was my fall
up question was are we at the

569
00:41:34.119 --> 00:41:37.199
point and I want to kind of
compare this to Edmond Timberlare we at the

570
00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:39.360
point where if they don't do anything, it's like demonstrable damage here at the

571
00:41:39.440 --> 00:41:45.320
end, you know, going in
the next season. Oh they're doing something

572
00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:49.639
they can't do any like it is. Stuff's happening. It's just a matter

573
00:41:49.719 --> 00:41:52.800
of when it could be. Like
we could be talking on Sunday, like

574
00:41:52.840 --> 00:41:59.119
if everything goes sideways, if Calgary
beats PC, which I don't see happening,

575
00:41:59.639 --> 00:42:06.320
but if they do it and Saskatchewan
loses and it's over, Yeah,

576
00:42:06.360 --> 00:42:10.519
we're talking Sunday Monday and changes are
being made and contracts are not going to

577
00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:14.360
it's going to be announced as well, we will not renew the contract.

578
00:42:14.400 --> 00:42:16.760
We are beginning the process of finding
the new head coach, potentially new a

579
00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:23.440
general manager and even lesser so likelihood
of a new president and CEO. Like

580
00:42:23.519 --> 00:42:30.480
this is going to be a deep, deep change for the rough Riders after

581
00:42:30.519 --> 00:42:35.800
this season? Is there? And
you know, obviously swath of you know,

582
00:42:35.800 --> 00:42:37.440
people across the board or whatever I
mean, is there like realistic?

583
00:42:37.679 --> 00:42:39.840
Yeah, because all I hear is, Hey, you trying to get people,

584
00:42:39.960 --> 00:42:43.079
you know, coach in the CFL
and we got the Caps and you

585
00:42:43.079 --> 00:42:46.440
know everything, Like is it?
Do you think there's enough qualified people out

586
00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:51.239
there that bring in to kind of
rebuild the writers? I think so?

587
00:42:51.400 --> 00:42:54.960
And I think like with Kyle Walter's
contract not being renewed yet in Winnipeg,

588
00:42:57.480 --> 00:43:01.199
he'd be the first guy i'd call
as as if you're changing the general manager,

589
00:43:01.599 --> 00:43:06.360
and then there's Buck Pierce, etc. Etc. You go down on

590
00:43:06.599 --> 00:43:12.320
trying to tie the connections on who
can do Jordan mcsimmick would be somebody I'd

591
00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:16.320
reach out to the BC Lions offensive
coordinator. We're seeing young good coordinators and

592
00:43:16.320 --> 00:43:20.719
I think Ryan did would he set
a good example And it doesn't even have

593
00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:23.119
to be a coordinator if you think
it's a good, young, smart coach.

594
00:43:23.119 --> 00:43:27.320
And we're seeing in the National Football
League too with like Mike McDaniels and

595
00:43:27.320 --> 00:43:31.159
some of these guys Zach Taylor who
are younger, who get a year maybe

596
00:43:31.199 --> 00:43:35.639
not even any as a coordinator experience, but going, wow, they are

597
00:43:35.760 --> 00:43:37.719
smart. And that's where I go. I would go with an offensive coach

598
00:43:38.440 --> 00:43:43.599
to start things off and let a
defensive coordinator cuk a little bit without being

599
00:43:43.639 --> 00:43:50.480
the head coach, because this offense
the last three years has been woeful and

600
00:43:51.079 --> 00:43:55.360
that's what really needs needs to That's
what we'll get people in the stands scoring

601
00:43:55.440 --> 00:44:01.000
thirty points. That sells tickets.
Have you know this? I mean,

602
00:44:01.119 --> 00:44:05.000
like attendance wise this year? Is
it? Because obviously we were there for

603
00:44:05.039 --> 00:44:07.920
Great Cup and it was a weird
situation because you know, Weinnpig's there and

604
00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:09.440
we don't want to deal with that. But I mean it is you're talking

605
00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:15.039
people turning in their season tickets,
but is that actually happening? Well,

606
00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:20.599
it will be interesting to see.
We can't. We're having a hard time

607
00:44:20.639 --> 00:44:24.519
giving away our season tickets this weekend. We just can't. Like I'll be

608
00:44:24.599 --> 00:44:29.400
there for my job, but my
family can't be there for you know,

609
00:44:29.760 --> 00:44:35.480
sports commitments for our kids, and
usually it's easy. Other people are texting

610
00:44:35.480 --> 00:44:39.960
the show like is anybody else having
a hard time even giving away tickets?

611
00:44:40.039 --> 00:44:44.480
And the announced I forget what it
was twenty seven thousand or something for the

612
00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:51.559
last home game against Hamilton, there
was eighteen thousand people there, Like that

613
00:44:51.760 --> 00:44:57.559
was not those there's people that are
definitely not using their tickets. Not when

614
00:44:57.639 --> 00:45:00.280
people are, they're out of town
ers. They're traveling two, three,

615
00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:06.760
four hours away to games, and
I know it's kind of mind boggling.

616
00:45:06.840 --> 00:45:10.920
I know different markets are like what
hell season ticket holders travel that far consistently.

617
00:45:12.039 --> 00:45:15.280
It's like, yeah, in Saskatchewan, a two hour drives nothing.

618
00:45:15.559 --> 00:45:17.000
I'll do a two hour drive there
and back in the day and not even

619
00:45:17.039 --> 00:45:23.119
blinking high. So that's what.
That's the lifestyle here. So people are

620
00:45:23.159 --> 00:45:28.239
saying they don't want to spend the
gas money to watch. So I'll be

621
00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:32.719
very interested to see and it's unfortunate
because it's fan appreciation night, but I'll

622
00:45:32.719 --> 00:45:38.199
be interested to see how many Green
seats are sitting there empty on Saturday.

623
00:45:38.519 --> 00:45:42.480
Yeah, that was like the Mariners
there last week of the season had fan

624
00:45:42.559 --> 00:45:45.400
Appreciation Week, Like it was very
apparent at that point we had played ourselves

625
00:45:45.400 --> 00:45:49.000
out of the playoffs. I'm like, I'm not even now. I listened

626
00:45:49.000 --> 00:45:52.280
to that we were driving back from
BC for that fun experience, you know,

627
00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:58.000
BC winn the peg at BC there
on whatever. October Friday, was

628
00:45:58.039 --> 00:46:01.719
listening to Michael Ball and Luke called
game was an interesting perspective having Hamilton come

629
00:46:01.719 --> 00:46:07.440
in and it discompletely pants the Riders, like you shouldn't kind of hap it

630
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:15.280
like that, No, it is
that was bad. That was just when

631
00:46:15.320 --> 00:46:21.039
you had ever all the emotion of
that week with George Reid, the twenty

632
00:46:21.119 --> 00:46:24.880
thirteen team, they inducted the first
woman in the Riders Plaza of Honor,

633
00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:30.480
Wendy Kelly, Like they were honoring
the past, they were honoring their legends,

634
00:46:30.599 --> 00:46:36.400
they're paying tribute. George Reed's family
is there and you lay an absolute

635
00:46:36.519 --> 00:46:40.519
egg, like absolutely it. Craig
Dickinson called it embarrassing, and it was.

636
00:46:40.599 --> 00:46:46.000
It was completely embarrassing for the organization
and head coach Craig Dickinson was bang

637
00:46:46.119 --> 00:46:53.320
on with his assessment after the game
in terms of it's weird that they talk

638
00:46:53.400 --> 00:46:55.599
right now, we're talking like,
you know, the season ticket holders and

639
00:46:55.639 --> 00:47:00.239
everything and health of a franchise,
where like Edmonton here, you know,

640
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:02.159
up into a couple of months ago
was like on this tail spin and Victor

641
00:47:02.239 --> 00:47:06.039
Queen and everything else and Tray four
and I'm like, now, I mean,

642
00:47:06.119 --> 00:47:07.360
you know, Chris Jones could be
like coach of the Year here with

643
00:47:07.519 --> 00:47:12.199
kind of this turnaround and everything,
Like does that surprise you? Because like,

644
00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:15.000
I think in a different and obviously
we're talking about it, but in

645
00:47:15.280 --> 00:47:20.039
the world where Edmonton maybe didn't have
this dumpster fire for half the year,

646
00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:22.559
there's more of a spotlight on Saskatchewan
and Calgary in terms of like kind of

647
00:47:22.559 --> 00:47:29.639
fundamental issues going on with am I
surprised that Chris Jones has turned it around.

648
00:47:29.840 --> 00:47:32.639
Well, just surprised that at this
point, like they're looking like it's

649
00:47:32.719 --> 00:47:37.360
roses over there compared to what's going
on in Saskatchewan in Calgary. For me,

650
00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:42.199
I'm surprised it took this long.
We saw Chris Jones do this in

651
00:47:42.239 --> 00:47:45.880
Saskatchewan and he took over in twenty
sixteen. He gutted the team, he

652
00:47:45.960 --> 00:47:50.480
brought in guys. They had a
slow start in year two, but you

653
00:47:50.480 --> 00:47:53.320
know they were cooking. They got
I think ten wins that year, and

654
00:47:53.599 --> 00:47:58.079
that's where it was like, oh, what is going on? Oh and

655
00:47:58.239 --> 00:48:01.679
nine they made a huge er with
trey Ford, Like it was a huge

656
00:48:01.960 --> 00:48:07.280
error on evaluating what he brought to
the team. And if they would have

657
00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:10.360
started trey Ford week four, week
five, they're in the playoffs. They're

658
00:48:10.400 --> 00:48:15.719
a playoff team. I truly believe
that. And we're not even having a

659
00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:22.280
conversation about the Riders and the Calgary
Stampeders trying to get to the playoffs.

660
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:25.599
I think Edmonton would be a playoff
team if they make that move earlier.

661
00:48:25.960 --> 00:48:30.159
So there was some sort of personality
conflict between the coach and the quarterback,

662
00:48:30.559 --> 00:48:35.679
which is unfortunate. But you have
to put ego aside sometime and make sure

663
00:48:35.679 --> 00:48:37.360
you got the best guys out there, and trey Ford is definitely that for

664
00:48:37.480 --> 00:48:43.000
Edmonton. Thoughts on Calgary and just
kind of the state of everything there,

665
00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:45.840
I mean, obviously not your direct
market, but here in the West,

666
00:48:45.880 --> 00:48:50.679
like because it seems like that's another
there's precariousness coming up there. These are

667
00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:57.800
two bad teams, Calgary and Saskatchewan's
like that game last week was painful to

668
00:48:57.920 --> 00:49:01.679
watch the two teams battling for a
playoffs, but and both of them looked

669
00:49:01.760 --> 00:49:07.440
like they were at points disinterested in
winning the football game and making bad decisions.

670
00:49:07.480 --> 00:49:13.400
So I've been calling it a snails
race for third between these two sides.

671
00:49:13.440 --> 00:49:19.119
So I I still think the Riders
make the playoffs. I do.

672
00:49:20.960 --> 00:49:29.440
I think the most likely scenario is
Calgary loses both their games, Saskatchewan loses

673
00:49:29.480 --> 00:49:36.199
their game, and Saskatchewan still gets
in the playoffs, like crazy, Like

674
00:49:36.280 --> 00:49:40.320
since Labor Day weekend, when Calgary
and Saskatchewan both won at home. Calgary

675
00:49:40.360 --> 00:49:46.400
beat Edmonton, Saskatchewan beats Winnipeg.
Their combined records are one and nine for

676
00:49:46.519 --> 00:49:52.280
Calgary and Saskatchewan. Like that is
unbelievable. How poor these two teams have

677
00:49:52.320 --> 00:49:58.400
played down the stretch. As I
was listening that I was film in because

678
00:49:58.400 --> 00:50:00.320
I was like Labor Day and I
was booked to film some festival and so

679
00:50:00.320 --> 00:50:04.719
I'm literally outside. I got because
it's so hard to watch games in America

680
00:50:04.800 --> 00:50:09.079
now, like the you know,
I thought the CFL plus thing was great.

681
00:50:09.719 --> 00:50:14.159
People told me the CFL plus things
great. No. Yeah, if

682
00:50:14.159 --> 00:50:17.679
I'm available for three hours uninterrupted in
the exact time the game on, it's

683
00:50:17.719 --> 00:50:21.039
great. But if you have to
if you have anything else in your life

684
00:50:21.119 --> 00:50:23.199
going on in that specific time,
you can never you know, God forbid,

685
00:50:23.199 --> 00:50:27.239
I watch a game an hour later
on demand or whatever. But I'm

686
00:50:27.239 --> 00:50:30.440
sitting there, I'm listening to the
CFL. Plus, I got my headphone

687
00:50:30.480 --> 00:50:34.119
in. I'm filming, and I'm
listening to you know, Saskatchwan that crazy

688
00:50:34.159 --> 00:50:36.719
game, right, the crazy the
yeah, the labor what they call the

689
00:50:36.760 --> 00:50:38.639
Labor Day Classic game. Yeah,
yeah, and just to see, like,

690
00:50:39.239 --> 00:50:43.159
because we're doing our little Monday recap
shows now we're like, man,

691
00:50:43.199 --> 00:50:45.280
like, you know, Saskatchewan's really
got some life and dog Gallon like this

692
00:50:45.400 --> 00:50:51.639
feels like and I just completely lost
from there. Do you do you do

693
00:50:51.679 --> 00:50:53.400
you like doll gall going forward?
I mean, do you think he's a

694
00:50:53.440 --> 00:51:00.679
solution going in the next year?
I think there's the quarterback spot is interesting.

695
00:51:00.960 --> 00:51:06.840
Clearly it's no longer Mason Fine or
they'd make the or Mason Fine would

696
00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:10.239
be back in because Jake Dolegala has
not been that great over the last couple

697
00:51:10.280 --> 00:51:15.679
of weeks. So clearly it's Jake
Doligala. What do you do next year

698
00:51:15.719 --> 00:51:22.199
with Trevor Harris if he can play, if he's healthy. I would think

699
00:51:22.440 --> 00:51:25.719
whoever's coming in would want a veteran
coach. And then do you have Jake

700
00:51:25.760 --> 00:51:31.480
Dolegala's number two and just change out
the quarterbacks behind him. I don't think

701
00:51:31.519 --> 00:51:37.440
a rebuild you go in with Jake
dolagalah or you're running into a potential of

702
00:51:37.440 --> 00:51:39.960
a Taylor Cornelia situation where you're oh
to nine to start a season. You're

703
00:51:39.960 --> 00:51:45.360
in desperation mode, which is no
way to start anew But I still think

704
00:51:45.559 --> 00:51:51.400
I would like to see Jake Dolegala
with different coaching. That's I want to

705
00:51:51.440 --> 00:51:58.119
see him with a QB coach and
an offensive coordinator who have been there,

706
00:51:58.239 --> 00:52:04.239
done that. Kelly, Jeff free
fell into the job because all these other

707
00:52:04.840 --> 00:52:09.559
more qualified coaches turned them down.
And that's where it's almost okay, Kelly,

708
00:52:09.559 --> 00:52:15.559
it's yours and it hasn't been a
wow at all. So and I

709
00:52:15.599 --> 00:52:19.360
watched drills. I watched practice drills
of the quarterbacks, and I was like,

710
00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:22.719
they don't work on footwork really and
stuff like that, or like I

711
00:52:22.800 --> 00:52:29.199
remember watching Jason Moss, I remember
watching Kahari Jones. Watching those guys work

712
00:52:29.280 --> 00:52:36.800
quarterbacks and the drills they do and
there looks more polished, and that's what

713
00:52:36.840 --> 00:52:40.039
I haven't seen in Saskatchewan this year. So I would really like to see

714
00:52:40.599 --> 00:52:46.039
who gets brought in and what kind
of QB tutelage Jake Dolagala can get because

715
00:52:46.039 --> 00:52:51.360
I'm not sure he's been gotten this
full support over the last two years.

716
00:52:51.960 --> 00:52:54.159
It's interesting. I mean, I
think, you know, if he you

717
00:52:54.199 --> 00:52:57.840
know, it's one of those things
like if he was your choice, he

718
00:52:57.840 --> 00:53:00.320
would have just started him. You
know, you wouldn't have gotten it done

719
00:53:00.320 --> 00:53:02.760
at Trevor Harris and kind of all
that stuff, you know, because it

720
00:53:02.840 --> 00:53:07.000
was right going into this season,
people didn't want to go Saskatchwan right because

721
00:53:07.039 --> 00:53:10.239
you were still having Digginson and everything. But now you think it'd be if

722
00:53:10.280 --> 00:53:14.880
you could come in and make everything
our own, right, it like Saskatchew

723
00:53:14.960 --> 00:53:17.599
would be a very appealing place for
a new head coach, I would think.

724
00:53:17.639 --> 00:53:21.920
So I would think if it's like, oh, you got a veteran

725
00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:28.239
quarterback under contract, that's a good
start, because you don't want you go

726
00:53:28.280 --> 00:53:30.920
into a position you're like, who's
the quarterback, Like right now it's Trevor

727
00:53:30.920 --> 00:53:37.760
Harris if he's healthy and you have
some potential behind him, and I think

728
00:53:37.760 --> 00:53:39.400
there's a great core of Canadians.
I think jerem Oda has done a good

729
00:53:39.440 --> 00:53:44.960
job of drafting and bringing in Canadians, Like there's a good enough group here

730
00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.119
that you can definitely look at and
go, oh yeah, I could make

731
00:53:49.199 --> 00:53:53.039
this work and probably do a quicker
turnaround than a complete overhaul and have it

732
00:53:53.079 --> 00:53:58.599
be a two or three year plan
so to speak, in terms of just

733
00:53:58.679 --> 00:54:01.320
kind of rounding out the conversation here
before we go about the West. Just

734
00:54:01.400 --> 00:54:05.599
curious your thoughts on the kind of
the BC Winnipeg of it all. I

735
00:54:05.679 --> 00:54:07.000
you know, I wanted to be
at that game. I kind of thought

736
00:54:07.000 --> 00:54:10.960
that was BC season and you know, not having the opportunity to be first

737
00:54:12.000 --> 00:54:15.000
and having to go into Winnipeg,
Like, to me, that was and

738
00:54:15.039 --> 00:54:17.599
it was funny because I think they
had done a really good job hyping that

739
00:54:17.639 --> 00:54:21.519
game up for local people because I'm
sitting there and people are like, oh,

740
00:54:21.559 --> 00:54:23.280
like are they out now? Like
what does this mean? Well?

741
00:54:23.320 --> 00:54:27.480
No, but like you know it
kind of it kind of feels that way.

742
00:54:28.679 --> 00:54:30.679
What do you make of that and
just kind of what is likely BC

743
00:54:30.880 --> 00:54:37.400
in some regard going into Winnipeg and
playing in the West. I I like

744
00:54:37.480 --> 00:54:40.639
the BC Lions. I like this
matchup. Clearly, they match up well

745
00:54:40.679 --> 00:54:45.599
against each other. There's win,
one blowout, and then another blowout and

746
00:54:45.599 --> 00:54:49.000
then a really good close game that
Winnipeg count came back to win, which

747
00:54:49.039 --> 00:54:52.400
shows, Yeah, the BC Lions
can win a football game, and they

748
00:54:52.559 --> 00:54:54.639
have one in Winnipeg, so they
have that belief in them. It's just

749
00:54:54.800 --> 00:55:00.400
whether or not Vernon Adams can keep
the ball safe and that BC lines defense

750
00:55:00.440 --> 00:55:06.760
needs to get better. They've been
allowing a lot of points recently, like

751
00:55:06.800 --> 00:55:07.760
that. At the start of the
season. You don't remember it was like

752
00:55:07.840 --> 00:55:13.159
they were allowing less than one touchdown
a game. They were dominant. Now

753
00:55:13.199 --> 00:55:17.880
I think they're averaging almost thirty points
per game allowed. So that's the that's

754
00:55:17.920 --> 00:55:23.199
the big issue. If BC cleans
up their defense and Ryan Phillips gets that

755
00:55:23.760 --> 00:55:28.840
crew anywhere close to what they were
at the start of the season, I

756
00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:30.679
think the BC Lions could be in
the Great Cup. Yeah, I mean

757
00:55:30.679 --> 00:55:34.679
they would have done that boys,
and then they were getting that fifty burgers

758
00:55:34.719 --> 00:55:37.280
and I think a minute joke on
to think about it. Last thing for

759
00:55:37.400 --> 00:55:42.119
me, like you know, and
you've done this, you know clearly a

760
00:55:42.199 --> 00:55:45.760
lot longer than I've been involved in
the space like, you know, we

761
00:55:45.079 --> 00:55:50.480
talked Saskatchewan Calgary, right, Ottawa's
got its own bag of issues over there.

762
00:55:50.480 --> 00:55:52.559
How are you feeling, like just
stated the CFL here, I mean

763
00:55:53.039 --> 00:55:57.679
for the most part, what you
know, six five six teams feeling decent?

764
00:55:57.760 --> 00:56:00.000
Like, how do you just kind
of rate the space? He remember

765
00:56:00.239 --> 00:56:04.119
going on? Well, I like
that we've seen increased attendance in Toronto,

766
00:56:05.679 --> 00:56:08.239
a bit of an uptick in other
markets as well. Of course, Ottawa

767
00:56:08.360 --> 00:56:12.440
is going to be down. It's
been back to back to back bad years,

768
00:56:12.760 --> 00:56:15.400
like they're in the Great Cup in
twenty eighteen. It's just gone south

769
00:56:15.480 --> 00:56:17.559
since that time. But I think
that's a fan base you can win back

770
00:56:17.599 --> 00:56:23.480
with wins. Clearly they'll show up, so they'll have some work to do

771
00:56:23.519 --> 00:56:28.639
this offseason. Saskatchewan fans. If
they get to nine and nine next year,

772
00:56:28.760 --> 00:56:31.960
they'll have a good group of fans
coming back to the stadium. So

773
00:56:34.480 --> 00:56:39.079
overall, I think the CFL has
improved. The ratings are up or have

774
00:56:39.239 --> 00:56:45.480
been up from last year. I
think there's growing interest, which I think

775
00:56:45.480 --> 00:56:51.679
all culminates from just being around again. That lost season was I think it

776
00:56:51.719 --> 00:56:53.480
was a bad call. I think
you needed to play even if it was

777
00:56:53.519 --> 00:56:59.719
an eight week season something to exist. A lot of people were turned off

778
00:56:59.760 --> 00:57:04.880
by the so I think it's back
to normal, back to eighteen weeks all

779
00:57:04.880 --> 00:57:08.239
that stuff for these teams. I'm
interested to see how the Saturday playoff games

780
00:57:08.280 --> 00:57:12.159
go rather than playing on Sunday.
Ratings wise, it's a bit of a

781
00:57:12.280 --> 00:57:15.400
change other than the Gray Couple still
be playing on Sunday, of course,

782
00:57:15.440 --> 00:57:22.079
But all in all, I think
there's a lot of positive signs. Unfortunately,

783
00:57:22.840 --> 00:57:30.000
Edmonton Ottawa have not been good attendance
wise, but again, if trey

784
00:57:30.039 --> 00:57:32.840
Ford lights some fire in Edmonton,
those fans will come back. I think

785
00:57:32.880 --> 00:57:37.239
we did the math that Toronto has
more wins this season than Odawas had since

786
00:57:37.280 --> 00:57:40.760
their Gray Cup season. I think
is what it was with fourteen or whatever

787
00:57:40.800 --> 00:57:45.119
review combined the season. Yeah,
the Saturday thing, yeah, I got

788
00:57:45.119 --> 00:57:49.719
the schedule for the media staff for
the CFL and they're like, everything shifted

789
00:57:49.760 --> 00:57:52.840
up. I'm like, well,
this is lovely for people coming in and

790
00:57:52.960 --> 00:57:55.679
trying to you know, coming from
out of town. Everything shifted up,

791
00:57:55.679 --> 00:57:59.280
so we'll see. I had complaints
about that, and then I found out

792
00:57:59.320 --> 00:58:02.559
today the dang bar I was going
to use to do our show TSM rented

793
00:58:02.599 --> 00:58:05.880
it out the whole weekend, so
now I got to like pivoting on that.

794
00:58:05.960 --> 00:58:08.880
So TSN is getting in getting into
the biz here, So still step

795
00:58:08.920 --> 00:58:12.920
to figure out that way. But
anything else from you, I appreciate your

796
00:58:12.920 --> 00:58:16.559
time. No, it's always fun. I can't wait to see how this

797
00:58:16.639 --> 00:58:21.920
all plays out in Saskatchewan offseason.
And yeah, do you have any picks?

798
00:58:21.920 --> 00:58:24.960
Who are are we hanging out in
Hamilton again? Really we're there,

799
00:58:25.079 --> 00:58:29.519
so if you're I didn't know if
you Yeah, we'll be there. Tim

800
00:58:29.559 --> 00:58:31.320
Bains just told me he's in Green
Day put him over the top, and

801
00:58:31.440 --> 00:58:36.159
we've got our whole we have our
whole little Monday recap show we've been doing

802
00:58:36.159 --> 00:58:38.199
coming up there. So it'll be
fun. Yeah, you're certainly invited.

803
00:58:38.440 --> 00:58:42.159
I think I have I think I
have a plan of where we're going to

804
00:58:42.239 --> 00:58:45.079
go live so it'll be convenient.
And yeah, of course you're welcome to

805
00:58:45.440 --> 00:58:49.320
Well, I can't I can't wait
to hang out again. Always nice to

806
00:58:49.320 --> 00:58:52.360
to see you guys at Great Cup
And uh, what do you what do

807
00:58:52.360 --> 00:58:54.280
you think? I think? Do
you know? Here's my way out?

808
00:58:54.360 --> 00:58:59.960
I will have the obvious prediction Toronto, Winnipeg and a rematch, that's boring.

809
00:59:00.039 --> 00:59:04.880
My what more way out there prediction
is last week's game was a Great

810
00:59:04.920 --> 00:59:08.559
Cup preview BC Lions and the Hamilton
Tiger Cats. Well, no, I

811
00:59:08.639 --> 00:59:12.480
like that. I was just gonna
say, because so Jason Hassi, our

812
00:59:12.519 --> 00:59:15.119
co hosts on the recout you he's
a tie Cats fan, and I'm obviously

813
00:59:15.159 --> 00:59:17.920
in America's CFL team here, and
so I think that that would be truly

814
00:59:17.960 --> 00:59:21.719
what unite all the you know,
unite both countries and all that. But

815
00:59:22.119 --> 00:59:25.039
I would love to see, like
Montreal was so close to getting there,

816
00:59:25.320 --> 00:59:29.840
right and it was like the missfield
goal, right, I'm like fever dream

817
00:59:29.920 --> 00:59:32.039
now. I've had an XFL in
the USFL season in between, like whatever

818
00:59:32.079 --> 00:59:36.519
happened with that, But we'd love
to see, you know, Cody in

819
00:59:36.559 --> 00:59:38.320
there. But I think Toronto.
I just yeah, if it's Toronto Winnipeg

820
00:59:38.360 --> 00:59:40.880
again, it's just hard. But
at least Toronto it feels a little fresh

821
00:59:40.880 --> 00:59:45.440
because you just from last year.
So if Cody Fajardo is makes it to

822
00:59:45.519 --> 00:59:52.280
the Great Cup Saskatchewan, I don't
know what we'll do with ourselves because it

823
00:59:52.440 --> 00:59:57.039
was get him out of here last
year, like he is terrible, Get

824
00:59:57.079 --> 01:00:00.039
him out and if he makes a
great cup. He he has a lot

825
01:00:00.079 --> 01:00:05.519
of breaking rights over the Saskatchewan rough
Riders, and good on him if he

826
01:00:05.599 --> 01:00:09.360
does. I was whatever the misfield
or whatever away from a Gary Stern would

827
01:00:09.400 --> 01:00:14.079
have been live on our show for
you. I had it, and his

828
01:00:14.119 --> 01:00:16.039
word would have been their great come. I think I could. I think

829
01:00:16.039 --> 01:00:19.880
I could get Cody on Saturday before. I think we could get Cody on

830
01:00:19.920 --> 01:00:24.159
if he if this works out,
but otherwise fever dream Chack. Kelly's already

831
01:00:24.440 --> 01:00:29.199
followed me on Twitter, So I
think that ship has sailed. But Jamie,

832
01:00:29.239 --> 01:00:30.400
I appreciate it. Yeah, we'll
see you soon. Making time here

833
01:00:30.440 --> 01:00:32.760
at night and everything else that means
a lot, Yeah, no problem.

834
01:00:32.760 --> 01:00:39.960
Read I was appreciate it. Can't
wait to see in Hamilton. Well,

835
01:00:39.960 --> 01:00:44.639
I appreciate it. Making time today. I'm outside my neighbor. I'm exporting

836
01:00:44.679 --> 01:00:47.000
wedding video edits right now. My
neighbor's cutting tiles. So hopefully this works

837
01:00:47.000 --> 01:00:50.199
out. We have gored back here, you know, Crown good, I

838
01:00:50.400 --> 01:00:52.880
Nation everything else. How are you, sir? I'm good. It looks

839
01:00:52.920 --> 01:00:54.639
like the weather in your neck of
the woods is a heck of a lot

840
01:00:54.639 --> 01:00:59.599
better than the weather in mind,
so well, we're similar times and similar

841
01:00:59.679 --> 01:01:04.000
all that going on there. We
got West Coast represent this week. Yes,

842
01:01:04.199 --> 01:01:07.280
absolutely, I'm in the soggy version
of the West Coast, so Northwest

843
01:01:07.280 --> 01:01:12.320
Coast, well, I appreciate BC
Lions here today. I want to get

844
01:01:12.320 --> 01:01:15.800
your thoughts on that. We're talking
CFL week twenty everything else, Uh,

845
01:01:15.239 --> 01:01:17.440
you know, bird's eye view.
What do you make of the season thus

846
01:01:17.480 --> 01:01:20.519
far? I know, didn't we
saw you in one of the games?

847
01:01:20.639 --> 01:01:22.360
Was it last year or it all
kind of blurs together here? But what

848
01:01:22.719 --> 01:01:27.480
have you made of CFL twenty twenty
three. I mean, I think it's

849
01:01:27.480 --> 01:01:29.920
been a good year. I'm pretty
biased out here on the West Coast,

850
01:01:29.960 --> 01:01:32.760
you know, like the the the
storyline going into the season was how are

851
01:01:32.760 --> 01:01:37.599
the Lions gonna respond to the loss
of Nathan Rourke and was Vernon Adams gonna

852
01:01:37.599 --> 01:01:40.800
be able to steal the steer the
ship? And I think that that's been

853
01:01:42.000 --> 01:01:45.800
answered with the resounding yes. Adams
is squarely in the middle of the MP

854
01:01:45.960 --> 01:01:51.039
conversation. I think I think he's
probably a little bit of an underdog behind

855
01:01:51.039 --> 01:01:53.559
Claro's, but he's in that conversation, which tells you, how about how

856
01:01:53.599 --> 01:01:57.679
the year's gone. So you know, from a biased perspective out here on

857
01:01:57.719 --> 01:02:00.639
the West Coast, it's been a
phenomenal season and what I think has been

858
01:02:00.679 --> 01:02:05.440
interesting. You know, Winnipeg and
Toronto have been kind of the top of

859
01:02:05.480 --> 01:02:08.320
the heap in both conferences for the
last couple of years. But some of

860
01:02:08.360 --> 01:02:14.280
the other like traditional powerhouses like Calary
for example, is sketching and Cline just

861
01:02:14.320 --> 01:02:16.119
make the playoffs right now? You
know, Saskatchewan's right on that bar as

862
01:02:16.159 --> 01:02:20.880
well. Uh, the phenomenal turnaround
of the Evonton Elks once they finally started

863
01:02:20.880 --> 01:02:24.079
playing trade Ford Like, There's been
some really great storylines carrying on throughout the

864
01:02:24.119 --> 01:02:29.920
year that I think have certainly drawn
my interest even more so than they would

865
01:02:29.920 --> 01:02:31.519
in a normal year, because I
think there's been a lot of intriguing and

866
01:02:31.559 --> 01:02:35.840
a lot of excitement. What I
don't get and I agree with you,

867
01:02:35.960 --> 01:02:38.519
Vernon has been phenomenal. That was
kind of my biggest question mark going into

868
01:02:38.519 --> 01:02:43.400
this year. So if he's been
good except for that Toronto game, right,

869
01:02:43.519 --> 01:02:45.239
you know, everyone kind of lays
a you know, even Jalen Hurts

870
01:02:45.280 --> 01:02:50.599
lay the egg here last weekend,
you know for the Eagles. But what

871
01:02:50.719 --> 01:02:52.480
is the Lions issue then, I
mean, I was there for the Winnipeg

872
01:02:52.559 --> 01:02:57.360
game. They've dropped some of these
very winnable games against Hambleton, Like what

873
01:02:57.480 --> 01:03:01.920
did you what is their issue right
now? If it's not Vernon. I

874
01:03:01.960 --> 01:03:06.199
mean, I think there's a there's
a couple of things with regards to the

875
01:03:06.199 --> 01:03:09.079
Winnipeg games, like I don't want
to give them a pass, but you

876
01:03:09.119 --> 01:03:15.119
know that that Winnipeg game ends with
them like losing out on a couple of

877
01:03:15.159 --> 01:03:20.760
pretty key crucial breaks. You know, Vernon Adams probably has that critical first

878
01:03:20.800 --> 01:03:24.199
down with two minutes left in that
game that would have a lot of them

879
01:03:24.440 --> 01:03:30.079
to basically ice it, and that
they don't get that call. And we

880
01:03:30.119 --> 01:03:32.920
don't really need to spend a lot
of time getting into the merits of that,

881
01:03:34.079 --> 01:03:37.239
but that that ends up really being
a backbreaker for them. Uh.

882
01:03:37.280 --> 01:03:39.400
And then the previous two games against
Winnipeg as well, like and and don't

883
01:03:39.400 --> 01:03:43.960
forget too that the Lions had,
you know, had Donnie I think was

884
01:03:44.039 --> 01:03:49.079
Rhyme's. Had Donnie Grimes had the
audacity and the and the wherewithal to hit

885
01:03:49.119 --> 01:03:52.199
the ground right at the end of
regulation, then Lions almost certainly win that

886
01:03:52.239 --> 01:03:53.760
given the season that Sean White has
had. Now, I don't blame him

887
01:03:53.760 --> 01:03:58.159
for that, but again it circumstantially. They caught a couple of pretty bad

888
01:03:58.159 --> 01:04:00.840
breaks in that fourth quarter along the
way to blowing that big lead against Winnipeg

889
01:04:00.920 --> 01:04:04.039
and then the previous two games Winnipeg
in Winnipeg. Don't forget, we're not

890
01:04:04.159 --> 01:04:06.840
just in Winnipeg, but the Lions, and both of them are on the

891
01:04:06.840 --> 01:04:11.159
back end of a short week,
coming off of a Sunday game and a

892
01:04:11.159 --> 01:04:14.760
Saturday game, with the second one
Winnipeg coming off of a bye. Like

893
01:04:15.119 --> 01:04:20.159
these odds were very much stacked against
them in that so they've run into some

894
01:04:20.519 --> 01:04:27.079
misfortune with Winnipeg in particular this year
in terms of their shortcomings, their issues.

895
01:04:27.199 --> 01:04:30.039
Their ability to run the football effectively
has been an issue all season long.

896
01:04:30.440 --> 01:04:33.599
They've been a very one dimensional offense. You know, they lose their

897
01:04:33.679 --> 01:04:39.599
left guard early in the season to
what's probably a career threatening injury unfortunately,

898
01:04:40.199 --> 01:04:43.639
or health condition, I guess I
should say, And you know, so

899
01:04:43.679 --> 01:04:46.599
they've been working with backups on the
offensive line pretty much the entire season,

900
01:04:46.840 --> 01:04:50.199
so they do have that as maybe
a bit of an excuse working for them.

901
01:04:50.800 --> 01:04:54.880
But what has been interesting watching the
team is. I feel like I

902
01:04:54.960 --> 01:04:57.760
have seen some explosion out of the
running game, but they just haven't been

903
01:04:57.760 --> 01:05:00.679
able to do so consistently. Like
I like Smoke Azelle, I liked Sean

904
01:05:00.800 --> 01:05:04.679
Shivers when he was in earlier in
the season, and I and you know,

905
01:05:04.679 --> 01:05:06.920
they've they've been rotating a couple other
names in there as well, and

906
01:05:06.960 --> 01:05:11.440
you've seen flashes, but they just
have not been able to do it consistently,

907
01:05:11.480 --> 01:05:14.719
and when it has been needed the
most, like in the second half

908
01:05:14.719 --> 01:05:17.239
of that Winnipeg game, where they
needed to try and run the clock the

909
01:05:17.400 --> 01:05:21.159
salt the game away, they just
weren't effectively able to do that. I

910
01:05:21.239 --> 01:05:26.159
just don't get if you're if you're
the BC Lions and you know all roads

911
01:05:26.239 --> 01:05:30.280
go through Winnipeg here regardless, and
you know home field advantage otherwise like you're

912
01:05:30.280 --> 01:05:33.519
gonna play Winnipeg, I just that
wouldn't be you know, we obviously we

913
01:05:33.559 --> 01:05:36.159
don't hang on the butler and you
know, Myzelle, like I said,

914
01:05:36.000 --> 01:05:40.320
how like you said, has been
good, but this if you know that

915
01:05:40.320 --> 01:05:44.599
that's your hurdle. I guess I'm
just surprised that there wasn't more emphasis because

916
01:05:44.639 --> 01:05:45.719
you know, Vernon slinging that,
like, you know, the air game

917
01:05:45.800 --> 01:05:49.679
is not the problem right now.
Yeah, I mean, I do think

918
01:05:49.679 --> 01:05:55.159
that salary constraints dictated a few of
those decisions, right I think Butler is

919
01:05:55.159 --> 01:05:59.840
a pretty obvious salary constraint decision.
You know that you brought in Adams last

920
01:06:00.039 --> 01:06:00.760
your part ways through the year,
and you kind of had him on the

921
01:06:00.840 --> 01:06:03.880
cheap, and then all of a
sudden you now had to pay him like

922
01:06:03.920 --> 01:06:09.400
you're starting quarterback going into this season. You know that inflates that value significantly.

923
01:06:09.639 --> 01:06:12.039
And they've got a couple of other
big ticket guys as well. You

924
01:06:12.039 --> 01:06:14.079
know, if you're going to have, like, let's face it, they've

925
01:06:14.079 --> 01:06:16.199
got probably the most talented receiving core
in the entire league. But if you're

926
01:06:16.199 --> 01:06:20.119
going to have that intact with established
guys across the board, you know,

927
01:06:20.159 --> 01:06:25.719
those guys all come at a pretty
good ticket. So I think salary constraints

928
01:06:25.719 --> 01:06:28.679
have been a part of it.
And in terms of bigger issues with the

929
01:06:28.679 --> 01:06:31.280
team as well, Like I have
been pretty openly critical of Rick Campbell's game

930
01:06:31.360 --> 01:06:35.960
management, his personnel management is outstanding. He's one of the best players coaches

931
01:06:36.119 --> 01:06:40.599
in the entire league. I would
say but I have been very critical of

932
01:06:40.639 --> 01:06:44.079
his game management, his use of
challenges, his management of clocks and timeout,

933
01:06:44.280 --> 01:06:46.519
and some of his decisions to kick
field goals. I do think that

934
01:06:46.559 --> 01:06:50.559
at the margins that has hurt this
team at times as well, and so

935
01:06:50.559 --> 01:06:55.199
I'm hopeful it doesn't come back to
bite them in when things matter the most.

936
01:06:56.079 --> 01:06:59.239
I don't want to look too far
ahead here because obviously we're still optimistic

937
01:06:59.280 --> 01:07:01.519
for the season. BC hosting next
year, right, great cup. I

938
01:07:02.239 --> 01:07:04.840
feel like we're in a window right
now. Are we in the middle of

939
01:07:04.880 --> 01:07:08.360
a window? Is a window close? Like, where do you view the

940
01:07:08.360 --> 01:07:11.000
BC right now? Well, I
think they're squarely in the middle of the

941
01:07:11.039 --> 01:07:13.800
window, and that that's in large
part because of Vernon Adams. Now,

942
01:07:13.880 --> 01:07:16.239
Adams has his shortcomings, but he's
a guy who's who's in the prime of

943
01:07:16.280 --> 01:07:20.920
his career. If and now you're
insulated from if Nathan Mark sticks in the

944
01:07:21.000 --> 01:07:25.239
NFL, it never comes back,
and that that is a real change in

945
01:07:25.320 --> 01:07:28.679
fortunes from at the outside of the
season where it was. Man Hopefully the

946
01:07:28.719 --> 01:07:31.519
Adams can be a decent stop gap. But you know, we don't know

947
01:07:31.519 --> 01:07:34.960
how we're going to react to losing. You know, the best quarterback that's

948
01:07:34.960 --> 01:07:38.360
been in this league in a decade. You know, it's tough to tough

949
01:07:38.360 --> 01:07:40.679
to bounce back from that, and
so you know, you put that into

950
01:07:40.760 --> 01:07:44.119
perspective. I think the Lions have
done a phenomenal job of not just bouncing

951
01:07:44.119 --> 01:07:46.679
back from that, but thriving despite
that. This team, it isn't the

952
01:07:46.719 --> 01:07:50.880
same as Nathan Murk's team last year, but it doesn't look that different from

953
01:07:50.920 --> 01:07:55.199
nathan Orks team last year. And
that's that's full credit to that, you

954
01:07:55.239 --> 01:07:59.320
know, the players on the field
and the staff involved. I do still

955
01:07:59.360 --> 01:08:02.519
like the Lions answers, especially given
those circumstantial things I talked about when playing

956
01:08:02.519 --> 01:08:08.960
Winnipeg. But the reality of the
matter is that, barring something completely miraculous

957
01:08:09.079 --> 01:08:12.119
working in the Lion's favor the last
couple weeks here, you put yourself in

958
01:08:12.119 --> 01:08:15.280
a position where you're gonna have to
win that game in Winnipeg to get through

959
01:08:15.360 --> 01:08:18.279
the Great Cup. That's I mean
to say, that's never easies and understatement,

960
01:08:19.000 --> 01:08:21.920
that's a really, really toll task
to ask. And it's Winnipeg.

961
01:08:21.960 --> 01:08:26.319
They've cut their teeth. They're not
just a good talented team. They know

962
01:08:26.359 --> 01:08:30.039
how to win in this league,
and so you know, the odds are

963
01:08:30.399 --> 01:08:31.840
against them to get through to the
Great Cup. But that being said,

964
01:08:32.439 --> 01:08:36.560
you have as explosive an offense as
they have, and you can win any

965
01:08:36.560 --> 01:08:40.880
game, you know, and Ryan
Phillips has shown the ability to at least

966
01:08:40.960 --> 01:08:44.279
keep the lid on even the best
offenses in this league, if not shut

967
01:08:44.279 --> 01:08:47.520
them down entirely, and so it
very well could all come together for them.

968
01:08:48.000 --> 01:08:51.079
It's remarkable. Yeah, Vernon,
I don't want to kind of pooh

969
01:08:51.119 --> 01:08:54.880
pooh what he's done in the last
couple of years where it certainly feels like

970
01:08:54.920 --> 01:08:58.279
a comeback kind of you know,
you could give a comeback player reward right

971
01:08:58.319 --> 01:09:01.720
now. I do Vernon has any
fear that I had going into the season.

972
01:09:01.800 --> 01:09:03.960
And believe me, like I you
know, I love Vernon as a

973
01:09:03.960 --> 01:09:09.680
person and you know from local here
in Northwest guy. But talk about just

974
01:09:09.960 --> 01:09:13.239
a way to kind of change the
narrative on that you were talking about him

975
01:09:13.279 --> 01:09:18.319
being the underdog in the MP race. If the Toronto game doesn't happen,

976
01:09:18.399 --> 01:09:20.239
is he more up there? I
mean, what what do you think it

977
01:09:20.279 --> 01:09:24.159
is? Is it dis because Claros
and the Bombers are that much more dominant.

978
01:09:25.800 --> 01:09:28.720
I mean, I think the head
to heads work against him fairly or

979
01:09:28.720 --> 01:09:31.520
otherwise, right, and and he
in going up against zac Galleros, he's

980
01:09:31.600 --> 01:09:34.600
zero to three. And to be
honest, I think for a lot of

981
01:09:34.600 --> 01:09:40.600
people that conversation begins and ends there
the Toronto. The adding in the numbers

982
01:09:40.640 --> 01:09:44.800
of that Toronto implosion probably don't help
as well, especially given that you can

983
01:09:44.880 --> 01:09:48.119
now make the argument that you know, in the games against the two best

984
01:09:48.119 --> 01:09:50.920
teams in the league, or at
least the two other best teams in the

985
01:09:50.960 --> 01:09:56.800
league, he's he's really struggled and
he's really made hay against the lesser lights

986
01:09:56.800 --> 01:09:59.800
of this league. And so you
could make that case if you were making

987
01:09:59.800 --> 01:10:02.000
that against him, and I suspect
that's probably what's going to sway a lot

988
01:10:02.000 --> 01:10:05.800
of voters at this point in terms
of the you know, we talked the

989
01:10:05.840 --> 01:10:10.399
window for BC here in terms of
being the championship team Winnipeg. Are you

990
01:10:10.520 --> 01:10:13.880
viewing them near the end of that
or you know, we've had people on

991
01:10:13.920 --> 01:10:15.439
the show for weeks and Okay,
the defense is getting the old or not

992
01:10:15.479 --> 01:10:20.199
as dominant this year. Yeah,
I would agree with that. I think

993
01:10:20.199 --> 01:10:25.640
the one guy that really gives you
hope for the future and some pause in

994
01:10:25.680 --> 01:10:30.359
that take, is Brady olivera olvera
still in his mid twenties. You know,

995
01:10:30.439 --> 01:10:31.319
he's got a lot of good years
ahead of him. You know,

996
01:10:31.520 --> 01:10:35.920
it's not fair to anybody to set
the bar at Andrew Harris, but if

997
01:10:35.920 --> 01:10:40.199
he has anything resembling in Andrew Harris'
career, you got a lot of years

998
01:10:40.199 --> 01:10:44.640
of elite production potentially left in him. And certainly, if you set that

999
01:10:44.720 --> 01:10:47.560
old thirty year old mark that running
backs often get, well, you still

1000
01:10:47.560 --> 01:10:50.039
got a handful of years before you
hit that, So that gives you some

1001
01:10:50.119 --> 01:10:54.319
hope for the future. You know, quarterback long Jevity is as good as

1002
01:10:54.359 --> 01:10:57.199
ever. I think Klaris has a
lot of years left in him. I

1003
01:10:57.239 --> 01:11:00.840
do think they'll have to reload on
the defense eventually, Lea. But you

1004
01:11:00.840 --> 01:11:02.159
know, I look at some of
the key guys on that defense, Adam

1005
01:11:02.199 --> 01:11:04.520
bak Hill, for example. One
of the one of the things that's been

1006
01:11:04.520 --> 01:11:08.199
the thing with Big Hill since he's
been in the league is that he is

1007
01:11:08.239 --> 01:11:13.880
as notorious of a diligent guy that
takes care of his body in every sense

1008
01:11:13.880 --> 01:11:16.520
of the word as anybody in the
league. And so if anybody's gonna be

1009
01:11:16.520 --> 01:11:20.359
set up to have longevity at a
position like like linebacker. It's a guy

1010
01:11:20.399 --> 01:11:25.840
like Adam bake Hill who just who
lives to take care of his body,

1011
01:11:26.159 --> 01:11:29.640
you know, and to take best
care of himself. So I'm no,

1012
01:11:29.720 --> 01:11:32.840
I'm not by any means rushing to
bury the Winnipeg Boo Bombers yet. I

1013
01:11:33.279 --> 01:11:35.960
but you're right there are They are
a little bit older, and I think,

1014
01:11:36.159 --> 01:11:40.039
you know, the changing of the
guard is going to be inevitable eventually.

1015
01:11:40.079 --> 01:11:42.960
And frankly, the run of success
they've had in the Western Conference has

1016
01:11:43.000 --> 01:11:46.399
been pretty unprecedented for them, uh
in the last handful of years. So

1017
01:11:46.439 --> 01:11:50.920
it hasn't translated into a into a
rash of Great Cup victories like they may

1018
01:11:50.960 --> 01:11:56.239
have expected. But within the Western
Conference they've been as dominant as anybody we've

1019
01:11:56.239 --> 01:11:59.920
seen in a long time in this
league. So that I think that Air

1020
01:12:00.520 --> 01:12:02.239
the Lions are very close to challenging
them now. I think that era is

1021
01:12:02.279 --> 01:12:05.680
slowly coming to an end, but
they are far from dead yet. It's

1022
01:12:05.720 --> 01:12:10.199
just frustrated not to do you know
too much your BC Winnipeg, But you

1023
01:12:10.239 --> 01:12:13.359
know, you look and I think
we stack up pretty well across the board,

1024
01:12:13.399 --> 01:12:15.159
except, like you said, kind
of that key running back and you

1025
01:12:15.159 --> 01:12:18.399
know, my Zell not really you
know, being fine, and that's maybe

1026
01:12:18.439 --> 01:12:21.840
not even like relying too much on
that when we need to. It's just

1027
01:12:21.880 --> 01:12:25.800
it is frustrating because you feel like
you could doing that kind of the apples

1028
01:12:25.800 --> 01:12:30.079
apples comparison right now for sure,
and watching the games between the two of

1029
01:12:30.079 --> 01:12:34.720
them might find really fun because there's
there's two real different personalities on offense.

1030
01:12:35.159 --> 01:12:39.199
Right on offense, Winnipeg just wants
to bludgeon you. They just they just

1031
01:12:39.239 --> 01:12:43.319
want to keep chipping away you constantly, you know, keep keep throwing punches

1032
01:12:43.399 --> 01:12:45.760
and just bit by bit wear you
down, which is what you kind of

1033
01:12:45.800 --> 01:12:48.079
saw in that last game between the
two of them. BC, on the

1034
01:12:48.079 --> 01:12:53.119
flip side, is much more of
an explosive offense that's gonna that's looking for

1035
01:12:53.119 --> 01:12:56.199
those explosion plays that are going to
just rock you to your core, and

1036
01:12:56.239 --> 01:12:58.880
they are very capable of doing that. And so I find that to be

1037
01:12:58.920 --> 01:13:02.520
a really fun class of styles watching
the two teams compete. Ultimately, I

1038
01:13:02.560 --> 01:13:08.319
think the difference between the two of
them comes down to whether the pass rushes

1039
01:13:08.359 --> 01:13:11.800
are effective on either side. You
know, the Lions matchw Betts has had

1040
01:13:11.840 --> 01:13:15.319
obviously an incredible season but the Lion's
pass rush has been a little hit and

1041
01:13:15.319 --> 01:13:18.319
miss, you know, and even
catching the break with Patty Neufeld being out

1042
01:13:18.359 --> 01:13:24.479
for the last game against Winnipeg,
the Lions when it mattered most, you

1043
01:13:24.520 --> 01:13:27.239
know, they created a turnover in
the second half, huge one, but

1044
01:13:27.520 --> 01:13:30.319
when it came down to it in
the fourth quarter, they weren't able to

1045
01:13:30.319 --> 01:13:33.279
get Koalaro's off his spot and off
of his reads when they needed to most.

1046
01:13:33.960 --> 01:13:36.439
And so that I think is going
to be one of the keys for

1047
01:13:36.479 --> 01:13:41.000
the Lions coming down the stretch and
against these elite opponents. Is I'm not

1048
01:13:41.039 --> 01:13:44.800
worried about their secondary. I'm worried
about whether their front Steven can consistently harass

1049
01:13:45.079 --> 01:13:47.479
the opposition and get them out of
their game plan. Is there a world

1050
01:13:47.560 --> 01:13:51.600
where Calgary beats BC here on Friday? I think I got the email to

1051
01:13:51.680 --> 01:13:55.359
do with the blackout, blackout game. We talk about this game all the

1052
01:13:56.800 --> 01:14:00.319
Yeah, I think there's a world
where Calgary beats BC, but I don't

1053
01:14:00.359 --> 01:14:02.840
expect them to. But there's definitely
a world where Calary beats PC. Like,

1054
01:14:02.880 --> 01:14:09.279
let's all forget Calgary is fighting for
their lives here and while BC theoretically

1055
01:14:09.279 --> 01:14:13.600
still has a chance at first place. There's like, I have a really

1056
01:14:13.680 --> 01:14:17.119
hard time seeing Winnipeg with a chance
to lock down first PA first place lose

1057
01:14:17.199 --> 01:14:21.239
to a an eliminated Edmonton L's team. Now, stranger things have definitely happened,

1058
01:14:21.279 --> 01:14:26.399
but you know that that doesn't feel
like a likely scenario. So I

1059
01:14:26.399 --> 01:14:30.640
don't know the Lions are going to
go into this with that that that real

1060
01:14:30.960 --> 01:14:34.479
one hundred and ten percent type edge, whereas Calgary is, and that's kind

1061
01:14:34.479 --> 01:14:38.640
of an intangible quality that can level
the playing field, despite the fact that

1062
01:14:38.720 --> 01:14:45.600
I am not super impressed with Calgary's
roster as currently stands. So yeah,

1063
01:14:45.640 --> 01:14:47.800
I think the Lions are the more
talented team. You know, it's it's

1064
01:14:47.880 --> 01:14:50.239
the last game of the season for
them. They want to finish out strong,

1065
01:14:50.279 --> 01:14:55.279
all that kind of good stuff.
But the other thing that looms here

1066
01:14:55.319 --> 01:14:59.520
too is it's the potential for a
rematch in the Western semi as well,

1067
01:14:59.720 --> 01:15:03.640
right, And so there's also that
added element of the Lions maybe potentially being

1068
01:15:03.680 --> 01:15:06.600
a little bit cagy and playing some
things a little closer to the vest,

1069
01:15:08.279 --> 01:15:12.279
knowing that you know, the downside
is pretty minimal for them in losing this

1070
01:15:12.319 --> 01:15:15.880
game, and they and they may
potentially have to have this team again when

1071
01:15:15.920 --> 01:15:19.760
it matters most. So that element
is also a play, which I know

1072
01:15:19.920 --> 01:15:23.279
a lot people aren't thinking that way, but with the Lions having a buy

1073
01:15:23.399 --> 01:15:28.600
next week like that, that's how
they're thinking. So it's I think that's

1074
01:15:28.600 --> 01:15:31.560
an interesting dynamic to it. Too. Bigger disappointment this year at Calgary or

1075
01:15:31.560 --> 01:15:40.960
a Saskatchewan, I would say Saskatchewan. I personally did not necessarily have that

1076
01:15:41.039 --> 01:15:44.920
high of an expectation for Calgary.
I know that they'd made the decision that

1077
01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:46.960
Jake Jake Mayor was their guy and
they were moving on from bo Levi.

1078
01:15:48.760 --> 01:15:54.680
But Mayor, like Mayor, showed
competence last year, but he didn't really

1079
01:15:54.720 --> 01:15:58.960
show more than that. And if
you looked at the surrounding cast of characters,

1080
01:15:59.079 --> 01:16:00.720
I didn't necessarily, as I kind
of alluded to before, I didn't

1081
01:16:00.720 --> 01:16:05.760
necessarily see what I thought was an
exceptionally talented roster around him. I don't

1082
01:16:05.760 --> 01:16:09.319
think it's one of the stronger rosters
in the league if we're being honest.

1083
01:16:09.840 --> 01:16:13.840
Saskatchewan, on the other hand,
you can you can give them the quarterback

1084
01:16:13.960 --> 01:16:18.560
injury thing, and that I think
is a fair a fair uh excuse to

1085
01:16:18.560 --> 01:16:24.279
give them, but you know it's
Saskatchewan. Expectations are always high in Saskatchewan.

1086
01:16:24.640 --> 01:16:28.119
Uh, They've gone through a pretty
significant for them at least drought at

1087
01:16:28.119 --> 01:16:30.199
this point in time in terms of
having sustained success. You know, this

1088
01:16:30.359 --> 01:16:35.359
is not the Saskatchewan rough Riders of
our father's era that went decades without winning

1089
01:16:35.399 --> 01:16:38.880
Great Cups and that was just the
reality of it. You know, the

1090
01:16:38.920 --> 01:16:43.439
modern rough Riders have an expectation to
be competing for Great Cups every single year

1091
01:16:44.079 --> 01:16:47.479
and so for them not to I
mean realistically not to come anywhere near that.

1092
01:16:48.000 --> 01:16:51.560
You know that this is a below
five hundred team. You know that's

1093
01:16:51.680 --> 01:16:56.520
that's not a Great Cup contender.
And if they back into the playoffs,

1094
01:16:56.920 --> 01:17:00.760
great for them. But you know
that the Sea of Green is not pleased

1095
01:17:00.920 --> 01:17:03.760
with not having even a single playoff
game to go cheer for. So I

1096
01:17:04.039 --> 01:17:09.560
would say that they're the bigger disappointment
all in all in terms of Edmonton here

1097
01:17:10.039 --> 01:17:14.800
taking on whether we have right weather
peg, A lot of momentum here kind

1098
01:17:14.800 --> 01:17:16.479
of coming out and we've joked on
here and there. You start trade forward

1099
01:17:16.520 --> 01:17:23.039
here maybe week four and we're in
the completely different But I are you excited

1100
01:17:23.039 --> 01:17:27.840
for the Elks moving forward optimistic,
what adjective would you use? Well,

1101
01:17:28.439 --> 01:17:33.560
the big elephant in the room for
me is Chris Jones. He's making a

1102
01:17:33.560 --> 01:17:36.960
ton of money. I don't think
you can get rid of him logistically,

1103
01:17:39.079 --> 01:17:42.279
but I don't know that he's shown
the ability. He's a great in game

1104
01:17:42.319 --> 01:17:44.880
schemer, I don't know that he's
shown the ability to He's kind of the

1105
01:17:44.880 --> 01:17:46.800
opposite of Rick Campbell in a lot
of ways. Right. This guy can

1106
01:17:46.920 --> 01:17:50.680
draw the heck out of a defense. He's a good schemer that way,

1107
01:17:50.720 --> 01:17:56.920
a great game planner, but the
way that he manages personnel is not effective.

1108
01:17:57.399 --> 01:18:00.840
It's just not he has thrown in
the past. He's thrown big money

1109
01:18:00.840 --> 01:18:04.000
at guys that are over the hill, that have made minimal impact. He

1110
01:18:04.079 --> 01:18:10.479
has stuck with guys that anybody with
working pair of eyes can see or not

1111
01:18:10.600 --> 01:18:15.800
getting the job done for far too
long. I think there's a legitimate argument

1112
01:18:15.880 --> 01:18:19.399
that his decision at quarterback is the
singular reason that they're not in the playoff

1113
01:18:19.399 --> 01:18:25.520
team this year. So I think
that's the leoming question for them. Trade

1114
01:18:25.520 --> 01:18:29.239
Ford, I'm fully bored the trade
Ford bandwagon. You see a creator like

1115
01:18:29.279 --> 01:18:32.119
that, so long as he stays
healthy. I think that that's a really

1116
01:18:32.119 --> 01:18:36.680
exciting player in this league and a
guy that can get things done. Like

1117
01:18:36.720 --> 01:18:41.039
he gives me. He kind of
gives me Damon Allen vibes in the way

1118
01:18:41.079 --> 01:18:44.399
that he plays. I wouldn't say
he has the arm strength that Damon Allen

1119
01:18:44.399 --> 01:18:47.199
did his peak, but that's the
kind of vibe that I get from him.

1120
01:18:47.199 --> 01:18:51.359
And I mean, as as Edmonton
fans know well as anybody Damon and

1121
01:18:51.399 --> 01:18:56.159
Allen was an incredibly successful player in
this league. So having that piece in

1122
01:18:56.199 --> 01:18:59.359
place gives you reason for optimism for
sure. For sure, for sure,

1123
01:18:59.640 --> 01:19:01.800
But I question whether Chris Jones is
going to be able to put it all

1124
01:19:01.800 --> 01:19:08.119
together because so far, as a
head coach he hasn't. As a coordinator

1125
01:19:08.479 --> 01:19:12.279
he has, as a head coach
he has not. And and so that's

1126
01:19:12.319 --> 01:19:15.159
where I wonder about things, because
his tenure as a head coach, whether

1127
01:19:15.239 --> 01:19:20.079
in Saskatchewan or here in Edmonton,
has been marred by questionable personnel decisions,

1128
01:19:20.119 --> 01:19:27.680
has been marred by at times controversy. It hasn't been great, and I

1129
01:19:27.760 --> 01:19:30.840
just don't know if he's the guy
to get that job done. It's curious,

1130
01:19:30.880 --> 01:19:34.279
like, do you give him credit
for finally coming around on Trey Ford

1131
01:19:34.359 --> 01:19:38.680
or do we hold that against him
that took him half the season? Like

1132
01:19:38.720 --> 01:19:42.439
where does that line moving forward?
A little? Both? A little both,

1133
01:19:42.680 --> 01:19:45.840
right, Like I do give him
credit and and you know we need

1134
01:19:45.880 --> 01:19:48.520
to, I think understand his context, which is that you know, he's

1135
01:19:48.520 --> 01:19:53.359
a guy from Tennessee and you know
his his background. His context is he

1136
01:19:53.439 --> 01:19:57.199
is an American guy through and through. And there are some you know,

1137
01:19:57.319 --> 01:20:04.159
some biases pup to past when that's
your background, right, you know,

1138
01:20:04.199 --> 01:20:08.640
you see a guy like Cornelius,
Well, Cornelius went to Oklahoma State,

1139
01:20:08.880 --> 01:20:11.560
and if you're Chris Jones, you're
looking at that being like, okay,

1140
01:20:11.560 --> 01:20:14.600
well, I know Oklahoma State.
Goods cool, they play some really good

1141
01:20:14.600 --> 01:20:17.399
ball. This kid must play some
really good ball. It defies logic to

1142
01:20:17.479 --> 01:20:19.960
look at two players and then look
at the other player and go, okay,

1143
01:20:19.960 --> 01:20:24.439
well I got a small kid that
went to Waterloo which I couldn't even

1144
01:20:24.479 --> 01:20:29.720
point out on a map of Waterloos
and and start him over Taylor Cornelius who

1145
01:20:29.720 --> 01:20:31.960
went to Oklahoma State. Right like
that, So I do give him a

1146
01:20:32.000 --> 01:20:36.399
little bit of credit for eventually coming
around on that. But that being said,

1147
01:20:38.520 --> 01:20:43.399
what were you looking at during training
camp and in practice and during the

1148
01:20:43.439 --> 01:20:47.119
first what was it seven games?
I think that Cornelius started something like that,

1149
01:20:47.520 --> 01:20:50.800
is like, how did it take
you seven games to look at this

1150
01:20:50.880 --> 01:20:56.600
and go this isn't working? And
at some point in time too, when

1151
01:20:56.640 --> 01:21:00.840
you're owing whatever own eight of the
gate, like, that's what it took

1152
01:21:00.880 --> 01:21:03.079
you to finally make a change,
holy smokes man, Like you waited until

1153
01:21:03.079 --> 01:21:05.760
you were already out of the playoffs
to make the change. And it felt

1154
01:21:05.760 --> 01:21:10.239
like for a good month that the
only thing keeping Corneyliss in the job was

1155
01:21:10.279 --> 01:21:14.399
your stubbornness and insisting that you got
it right initially. And so there's two

1156
01:21:14.439 --> 01:21:16.079
sides to the coin with that,
because I don't want to not give him

1157
01:21:16.079 --> 01:21:18.960
any credit, but at the same
time, I don't want to go and

1158
01:21:19.000 --> 01:21:23.239
praise him and say, oh,
well he gave a Canadian quarterback a chance.

1159
01:21:23.279 --> 01:21:26.960
That's awesome. Well let's be a
little bit more critical about the context

1160
01:21:26.960 --> 01:21:29.680
around that as well, because I
think we need to be fair. We

1161
01:21:29.720 --> 01:21:32.359
also need to be fair that way
in terms of just talking to East here

1162
01:21:32.359 --> 01:21:35.359
real quick before we get out,
who do you have you know? For

1163
01:21:35.439 --> 01:21:40.119
the semis al Letts have been a
little bit more of a roller coaster.

1164
01:21:40.199 --> 01:21:45.359
Hamilton coming on strong here, What
do you make? I like the ceiling

1165
01:21:45.399 --> 01:21:49.920
for Hamilton better than Montreal, But
what I've seen when you see those East

1166
01:21:49.960 --> 01:21:55.840
on East matchups, Montreal has has
kind of owned aside from Toronto, has

1167
01:21:55.880 --> 01:21:59.159
owned the rest of the East.
Like it's been a pretty clear cut second

1168
01:21:59.159 --> 01:22:02.159
best team in that vision. And
you know, Cody Fajardo, as long

1169
01:22:02.199 --> 01:22:06.439
as he can avoid throwing interceptions,
which has been a pretty big question around

1170
01:22:06.479 --> 01:22:10.439
him this year, But as long
as he can avoid throwing interceptions, you

1171
01:22:10.479 --> 01:22:14.039
know, Montreal has spent most of
those games kind of in command of it.

1172
01:22:14.840 --> 01:22:18.000
Hamilton's been kind of an enigma this
year. Like I expected them to

1173
01:22:18.039 --> 01:22:23.800
be better and pretty squarely in the
thick of that race. Maybe not quite

1174
01:22:23.840 --> 01:22:27.479
with the Argonauts, but but you
know, comfortably right in behind them,

1175
01:22:27.920 --> 01:22:30.720
and it just hasn't quite worked out
that way. You know, ver Londo

1176
01:22:30.760 --> 01:22:33.479
Steinauer, once one of the rising
stars of this league, that stars dimmed

1177
01:22:33.479 --> 01:22:40.760
pretty significantly at this point in time. They The quarterback question is is interesting,

1178
01:22:40.800 --> 01:22:43.319
like it appears that they're trying to
go with the two quarterback system right

1179
01:22:43.359 --> 01:22:45.199
now. It's split time. I
don't know how effective that's going to be.

1180
01:22:46.279 --> 01:22:49.119
It has worked in some cases before, but it's pretty rare where two

1181
01:22:49.199 --> 01:22:53.960
quarterback systems work effectively for a team. It's usually an indication that you don't

1182
01:22:53.960 --> 01:22:57.279
love either quarterback. And given that
you just went out and acquired believe I

1183
01:22:57.319 --> 01:23:00.600
Mitchell this offseason to settle that question, that's not really where you want to

1184
01:23:00.600 --> 01:23:05.319
be. But I was really impressed
with the way they hung it against BC.

1185
01:23:05.720 --> 01:23:09.119
You know, they lost, they
lost on a last second field goal

1186
01:23:09.119 --> 01:23:12.199
in that game, but I thought
for most of the second half of that

1187
01:23:12.239 --> 01:23:14.720
game they were the better team of
the two. So you know, that's

1188
01:23:14.720 --> 01:23:17.720
that's them playing legitimate playoff caliber football, and if they can keep that up

1189
01:23:18.000 --> 01:23:21.720
then maybe they can make a go
of it. It'll be an interesting matchup.

1190
01:23:23.640 --> 01:23:26.840
And in Montreal, I would say
too, like their venue isn't necessarily

1191
01:23:26.880 --> 01:23:31.920
the most hostile environment to go into
him winning the league either. Yeah,

1192
01:23:32.000 --> 01:23:38.479
yeah, so I I think it's
a winnable game for the road team.

1193
01:23:38.560 --> 01:23:41.760
But I also like what Montreal has
done this year when they've been challenged within

1194
01:23:41.800 --> 01:23:45.920
their conference. They've looked pretty in
control of those games throughout. I like

1195
01:23:45.960 --> 01:23:48.640
what they're doing on defense. I
really like Austin Mack and I think that

1196
01:23:48.720 --> 01:23:54.119
if they you know, going going
with the right mindset, that they should

1197
01:23:54.199 --> 01:23:57.479
be good. But Hamilton's really come
on, like you said, and so

1198
01:23:57.960 --> 01:24:00.439
I think there's a lot more question
marks around the tire Cap'. But you

1199
01:24:00.439 --> 01:24:03.039
know, I talked about roster talent
before. I do think through and through

1200
01:24:03.079 --> 01:24:05.920
the tire Cats probably are the more
talented roster if they can piece it all

1201
01:24:05.920 --> 01:24:13.159
together. Last question here for me. You know, Ottawa disappointing, obviously

1202
01:24:13.199 --> 01:24:17.640
injury stuff, disappointing last year,
obviously injury stuff like disappointment, what do

1203
01:24:17.640 --> 01:24:20.840
you make going forward? Here?
We write this season off, like,

1204
01:24:20.880 --> 01:24:24.199
what do you do from here?
Because it's been a long time before they've

1205
01:24:24.239 --> 01:24:27.680
seen any success. I mean,
I think you, I think you write

1206
01:24:27.720 --> 01:24:30.239
this season off. But I do
think that you take your critical review of

1207
01:24:30.399 --> 01:24:34.560
Bob Diyce and his staff and decide
whether he's the guy moving forward. I

1208
01:24:34.600 --> 01:24:39.960
didn't love he sounds like he's a
very well respected guy and and uh,

1209
01:24:40.039 --> 01:24:42.359
you know, a good tach,
good players coach and that kind of stuff.

1210
01:24:43.159 --> 01:24:45.880
And but I I just given the
way the previous era in Ottawa went,

1211
01:24:46.000 --> 01:24:50.279
I was a little surprised that they
hired from within. There's also been

1212
01:24:50.319 --> 01:24:56.640
some rumblings that the level of financial
investment in this roster has not really been

1213
01:24:56.720 --> 01:25:00.079
up to par with the rest of
the league as well, and that's something

1214
01:25:00.119 --> 01:25:03.000
that I think OSEEG and the ownership
group is going to have to take a

1215
01:25:03.000 --> 01:25:08.720
hard look in the mirror and review
because I wonder if and this is purely

1216
01:25:08.760 --> 01:25:11.960
me spitball, I don't have insider
information here, but I do wonder if

1217
01:25:12.560 --> 01:25:15.399
there's maybe a little bit of complacency
selling in from OSEEG and that in the

1218
01:25:15.439 --> 01:25:19.039
Red Blacks era, they've managed to
carve out a pretty darn good thing in

1219
01:25:19.079 --> 01:25:24.640
Ottawa. That venue is excellent,
the fan base is really supportive. They

1220
01:25:24.680 --> 01:25:29.600
have a great atmosphere pretty much all
the time, and they've tested it with

1221
01:25:29.760 --> 01:25:32.359
not putting great teams on the field
last couple of years and it's held up

1222
01:25:32.439 --> 01:25:36.560
reasonably well. But I don't know
how much further they can push it.

1223
01:25:36.600 --> 01:25:39.920
I think they really need to buckle
down and get things figured out. I

1224
01:25:39.920 --> 01:25:43.199
think they thought that they were doing
that by bringing in a guy like Jeremiah

1225
01:25:43.239 --> 01:25:46.119
Masoli to kind of carry the load, but that didn't work out. I

1226
01:25:46.159 --> 01:25:48.920
don't know if he'll be able to
come back and help them out next year

1227
01:25:49.199 --> 01:25:51.760
either, So they kind of have
to get back to the drawing board.

1228
01:25:51.760 --> 01:25:55.720
But the thing that's very clear with
Ottawa is that, you know, once

1229
01:25:55.760 --> 01:26:00.520
Masoli was out, it was kind
of exposed that this roster's without him probably

1230
01:26:00.520 --> 01:26:02.680
the worst in the league, and
they really need to address that. And

1231
01:26:02.840 --> 01:26:06.199
that's not that doesn't have to cost
you a lot of money, but you

1232
01:26:06.279 --> 01:26:12.359
have to invest in things like effective
scouting and the amateur draft and stuff like

1233
01:26:12.359 --> 01:26:15.760
that and get more squeezed more out
of that stone. If you're going to

1234
01:26:15.840 --> 01:26:17.520
make it, go of it.
They're certainly capable of doing so, but

1235
01:26:17.560 --> 01:26:23.560
I I don't know if that level
of desperation seems to be there to the

1236
01:26:23.600 --> 01:26:27.399
extent that it would be in other
markets after consecutive seasons like the like the

1237
01:26:27.399 --> 01:26:30.720
Red Blocks have had blast a couple
of years, and so I wonder how

1238
01:26:30.800 --> 01:26:33.840
quickly that'll change. Well, I
appreciate that. I like that good insights

1239
01:26:33.840 --> 01:26:36.439
there, because you know, I
get kind of different opinions on that because

1240
01:26:36.439 --> 01:26:40.079
it's like, oh, Sean Berg
and you know, so it's good to

1241
01:26:40.119 --> 01:26:43.960
hear that. I appreciate it taking
time here in the middle of work and

1242
01:26:44.000 --> 01:26:46.800
everything else. And that really makes
I appreciate it, and that we'll hope

1243
01:26:46.880 --> 01:26:49.600
that the Lions here or whatever ends
up with that they can they can go

1244
01:26:49.680 --> 01:26:51.840
in here a little. I kind
of felt like that was the end of

1245
01:26:51.880 --> 01:26:55.560
the season here a couple of weeks
ago, but we'll see a fingers crossed

1246
01:26:56.199 --> 01:26:58.640
Yeah, we'll see that that was
That was a tough one to lose.

1247
01:26:58.680 --> 01:27:00.720
But hey, they bounce back and
a tough road game last week. You

1248
01:27:00.720 --> 01:27:06.000
know they're still fighting. I am
very confident they'll end up in Winnipeg for

1249
01:27:06.000 --> 01:27:11.640
that Western Final. I'm not super
confident they'll get through that, but I'm

1250
01:27:11.880 --> 01:27:15.560
gonna tune in to see so Gord, thanks again, appreciate it, of

1251
01:27:15.640 --> 01:27:24.199
course you take care man, really
appreciate all of our guests for coming on

1252
01:27:24.239 --> 01:27:28.239
today. Paul Reese is always making
himself available with all the other work he

1253
01:27:28.319 --> 01:27:31.079
does, tracking all these alternative football
leagues, running our sports Central, and

1254
01:27:31.119 --> 01:27:33.840
his family everything else means a lot. And then, like I said,

1255
01:27:33.920 --> 01:27:39.279
Jamie and I taking time after work
looking forward to seeing him up in Hamilton

1256
01:27:39.359 --> 01:27:42.239
here for the Great Cup in just
a few weeks. And then Gord Randall

1257
01:27:42.359 --> 01:27:45.520
is always making time a crown Ger
that ooundation all of that, Jim Ullan

1258
01:27:45.600 --> 01:27:48.800
and our friends, Mike Cogan everyone
over there. Super appreciate Gord with that

1259
01:27:49.079 --> 01:27:54.600
and working on getting our location solidified
for our great Cup show. Can you

1260
01:27:54.640 --> 01:27:59.920
believe TSN that we were at the
George Hamilton two years ago across the street

1261
01:28:00.039 --> 01:28:02.920
from the convention Center, almost like
the perfect location to do a live show.

1262
01:28:03.159 --> 01:28:08.359
Call them up TSN right, the
entire venue, the entire weekend,

1263
01:28:08.479 --> 01:28:12.680
So hopefully that means we'll have friends
nearby we can bring them on the program

1264
01:28:12.720 --> 01:28:15.720
as well. But getting all that
figured out for our CFL breakup show here

1265
01:28:15.800 --> 01:28:18.520
coming up on November eighteenth, just
about a month away. Like I said,

1266
01:28:18.600 --> 01:28:23.000
like and subscribe. Hope you guys
enjoy should be news coming here soon.

1267
01:28:23.279 --> 01:28:27.479
Lots of stuff happening, swirling hearing, lots of rumors with his XFL

1268
01:28:27.640 --> 01:28:31.800
usfl UFL United football stuff, So
make sure you're subscribed. Like I said,

1269
01:28:31.800 --> 01:28:34.520
stay tuned and we'll see you next
time. Have a good weekend. Thanks,