Well, welcome here, bones, you're good day, Welcome to the Gray
Cup. We are alive here. Hopefully the audio works let me know we
have anything if anyone can't hear, if it sounds weird running this off,
We are alive here at the BC Lions End. Evan, Jason, how
are you guys? Jason, how's the Evan? What's going on? Oh?
Not too much? Really excited for the really excited for the Great Cup.
Not you stole in the bike, but yeah, really excited to be
here in Hamilton. And yeah, Evan, how's it going. Made it
that late last night? Yeah, doing very well, honestly, just glad
to be here. There was a minute where I thought it might not be
happening, but we're here doing the show now, getting ready for Great Cup
tomorrow and very exciting time. Yeah, so we are live here, Today's
Saturday at the BC Lions Den. I'm adjusting my microphone a little bit here,
running on the fly, Gonna have a huge lay of guest. We're
gonna do it intro. We got Jamie and I standing by Dorothy's running the
floor. We got a people shift in slide in you know how it is.
But we'll have lots of guests today two hours here coming up. First
off, Jason, Obviously we had Hamilton Great Cup two years ago, a
little different than now. What's it like here? We're on the floor,
We're here, they got the Schooner band playing everything else. What's it being
like on the floor here? Well, it's night and day compared to what
it was in twenty twenty one, because twenty twenty one was a very skilled
back Great Cup. Obviously you had a lot of COVID protocol still in place.
So ultimately, at the end of the day, it wasn't the Great
Cup that Hamilton really envisioned. But this year they've been able to really pull
at all the stops and you know, they have a lot of events going
on throughout the city. Evan, what's it like we're walking around today downtown
where convention stand are pretty buzz and what do you make of it? Yeah?
I think Hamilton's great. You know, it's a pretty cozy city.
You know, I didn't really know what to expect. I've never been out
to this part of Canada before, really only been to Vancouver. But it's
a pleasant surprise so far. And the weather's also been great, which I
wasn't totally anticipating, so enjoying that as well. Yeah, it's been beautiful,
really surprise. You're just looking to see if I'm getting a DMS from
guests. Really beautiful. We want to get into the game here before we
get everyone else in exciting. I know this isn't kind of the Great Cup.
Maybe we thought we wanted coming in, but obviously here with Montreal the
big upset. Jason first thoughts to you, what are you looking for?
And then we did the previous show on Monday or Tuesday whenever that was,
But what are you making of the actual game here? I think all eyes
have to be on Winnipeg's offense versus Montreal's defense, because I mean, I've
really seen too much from the Montreal offense to believe that they can win,
you know, a shootout type game this year. And if Winnipeg's offense goods
rolling, I don't think that Montreal has the capability to keep up with them.
But I think Montfreal's defense is playing so well right now. If they
can replicate what they did against Toronto last week and ultimately forced turnovers, I
think they can, you know, get an upset in the Great Cup.
On Sunday. It's so funny. We were talking in breakfast before every Winnipeg
reporter this year. Oh, there's not a chance in hell that Winnipeg loses
this game. Obviously. We have the Montreal guys, they feel this,
you know, but I think both sides feel pretty confident right now. I
don't know. I think Toronto came in last year maybe with more. I
feel like Montreal has more questions this year coming in than Toronto did. Evan,
what do you make of this, like from a football perspective. Yeah,
Well, one of the things that I've really been focused on here is,
you know, while this is Winnipeg's fourth straight Great Cup, there are
no strangers here. They've got a lot of guys that are getting older.
I mean, just going down the list, you've got Zach Klaros, you
know, who's thirty five, Stanley Bryant, who's thirty seven, JaMarcus Hardrick,
who's thirty three. You know, was a finalist for Most Outstanding Lineman,
Willie Jefferson, Jackson Jeff Coat both thirty two, and then Adam big
Hill, who you know may or may not play in this game, is
thirty five. I'm still a very pivotal player there in Winnipeg. So you
know, this team's getting even though they've been here many times and they've obviously,
you know, won twice out of the past three, you know,
they if they don't get this one, you know, there might be some
significant change. And obviously still a lot of good players, you know that
they recruit very well. Shout out to Danny McManus and all those guys in
the front office. But yeah, I mean, you know this, this
this definitely feels like you know, almost not not end of a run,
but you know, it's it's not youthful anymore. It's weird in terms of
the Montreal side of it. And I was talking with Gary Stern obviously a
former owner here over the weekend following that really weird Montreal's trajectory this year,
and it seems like they never stopped at working and acquiring talent right during the
offseason. Jason, is that kind of how you look at that, that
they they've kind of continued to ascend here where obviously, you know, we
saw the bizarren this is with Toronto here last week, but it really feels
like Montreal is peaking at the right time. Yeah, absolutely, I believe
they've won six or seven games in a role leading into this game, so
they're arguably the most hot team in the CFL going into this Great Cup game
here. But I think, yeah, at the end of the day,
they were kind of behind the eight ball in the off season with the whole
ownership situation being up in the air, but ultimately they got that straightened out.
I think that they made a lot of smart free agent acquisitions. I
always say that on my channel that the quarterback situation could have ended up so
much worse for them, given that Trevor Harris left during a free agency this
year. So I think that Cody Fvigarnald's kind of studied the ship for the
Alouettes in that regard, and Jason Mosses there's a lot of credit as well.
Just tremendous year. I mean, Evan and we've talked about this for
weeks. This could have been a disaster of a season from Montreal coming in
and obviously you have the ownership change. And it was funny we were at
Randy Ambrosi's public address yesterday to the fans and he's talking about how Pierre came
in and bought the team. I said, how crazy would it be coming
in your first year here? A lot to go down from there, kind
of a high rise. But I really just incredible how Montreal has has really
defied the odds this season. Absolutely. I mean, I think the expectations
were pretty low and the one consistent criticism that they weren't able to overcome during
the season was, you know, they were unable to beat what would be
considered the upper echelon of teams in the CFL, you know, the Torontos,
the Winnipeg's, the BC's, you know, the world. And when
they came into the playoffs, even against Hamilton, who had their struggles,
you know, there was a lot of doubt, you know, just given
again their flow of the season. But they've proved everybody wrong so far.
You know. Offense, you know, still has some work to do.
We can get into that, but the defense has just been incredible, you
know, and I'm really excited to see that unit in person this weekend or
tomorrow. I should say, yeah, I want and I want to talk
more kind of broad rangeing CFL and we'll get a lot of guests in,
but I want to make sure we get enough talk on the game here before
we kind of spiral the rest of this today. Jason, you said it
breakfast. You want just a good game? Is that enough? What are
you actually expecting here between these teams. I'm expecting a low scoring game between
these two teams because, as I said in my game preview this week,
for this game, they are the top two scoring defenses in the CFL this
season, So I'm very much excited to see which defense really shows up to
play in this one. Also the top two pass defenses in the CFL this
season, so it'll be interesting to see which offense really gets going in this
game. It's been interesting to me, and I was having a conversation last
night with a lot of the Winnipeg and other reporters in the suite here talking
about the importance of Winnipeg here winning and really cementinging Caleras and Mike O'Shea and
all of that, and you know what that would mean to go to three,
you know, within three great cuts right four years kind of all that
stuff versus kind of the flukey upset kind of underdog stories. Montrell, is
there one that's more appealing to you between the two? Well, it's tough,
you know, because Winnipeg has gone the fourth straight Great Cups. Like
I've already pointed out, they won the first two, but then they lost
last year in a very tight contest, and then this year. You know,
even though again it's their fourth straight, it's still a big year.
Like I've pointed out, some of the key players on their roster are older,
you know, and and well, we'll see, we'll see what happens.
But I think, yeah, I mean it's definitely going to be you
know, if Winnipeg wins the game, I think a lot of people will
you know, come out and say, well that was expected. You know,
they're just a better team all around, better roster. You could argue,
better coaching to a degree. I mean, Jason Moss is the first
you know, he was this is the first year coaching, right, so
you know, but if Montreal wins, then yeah, Winnipeg loses back to
back Great Cups. That's gonna raise some eyes. You know, is the
team getting too older? You're gonna have to make some changes, And I
think those are all things to consider. Yeah, what do you need the
window here, Jason for Winnipeg, Yeah, I think they still maybe have
one or two more years left. But like Evan said, a lot of
these guys, especially in the trenches, are getting older. For them.
You think about the offensive line, left tackle, right tackle, they're both
over thirty three, thirty four years old. Stanley Bryant I believe he's thirty
six or something like, yeah, thirty seven. So you know, these
guys are getting older at like premium positions. So I mean, they'll still
have Zach Klaris for I think the next five or so years. But I
think that at the end of the day, if the offensive line play starts
to deteriorate, and if you know, Willie Jefferson and Jackson jeff Coat aren't
getting after the quarterback as much as they used to, I think that you
could see a really big decline team. Is my boy Cody Pijar was seeing
trouble tomorrow? Evan like, is he? I'm I'm worried for Cody a
little bit here. Well, it's a good question. I mean, again,
I've talked about, you know, Willie Jefferson being one of my favorite
players in the CFL with his length and that you know pass rush that really
affected Vernon Adams in that West Final. You know, he couldn't get the
ball out and yeah, I definitely think, you know, given I mean,
the Montreal's offense I think is the most concerning unit in this game.
You know, on all sides of the ball of both teams, is Cody
in trouble. I don't know. He's been a very good game manager this
year, but he really needs to step up and make some big plays in
this game, There's no doubt. And I think a lot of those big
plays you know, are gonna have to go to Austin Mack, who you
know, really roast to the top this year, you know from Ohio statement
with a couple of NFL teams, but really roasted the top quickly. And
that's gonna have to be his guy in this one. They're gonna have to,
you know, get it going early, because I was saying this morning
at breakfast, you know, once Clario's gets rolling in that offense, I
mean, even if they might be down Dalton shown, you've still got Kenny
Lawler, You've still got Rashid Bailey and those guys you know, could go
out there and they can make that game, you know, a blowout really
quick. It's a frightening offense. Matt's got a question here, can the
Ales keep it within ten points, and then everyone wants to know what's Green
Day and the open We we'll get to that, but we can the Oles
keep I mean I want Montreal. I mean this is a pro Montreal Aloletts.
This is a pro Cody p Jar of the podcast. Do you think
that they're even gonna keep it closer? I think it'll be a close game.
Like I said, I think it will be lower scoring. But we
have seen some major upsets in the Great Cup Game in the last ten years.
Even you look at even last year was a pretty big upset considering what
Winnipeg went into that game with. You think about Oudawall playing against Calgary in
twenty sixteen. Oudawa was an eight nine and one team and they beat the
fifteen too and one Stampeders. So anything can happen in the Great Cup Game,
as history shows. Jenna checking in here good after the infant Southern California.
Let's talk about this. We have a question out Santsky. I don't
understand why the CFL has to push Austin Mack because of the Ohio State University
aspect of it. We talked to Austin Mack all season. Do you think
the CFL needs to be doing more than promote him maybe, you know.
I mean, you know, he came from a big school, right,
but at the end of the day, he still has to come up here
and make a name for himself, right. I Mean one of the misconceptions
sometimes in the CFL games that you have these Americans that come up from big
schools, you know, and they think that they're automatically going to get a
spot. Keep in mind, you know, Austin Mack, no one really
expected this from him. You know, he was pretty low in that Montreal
depth chart. You know. Again, there just wasn't a lot of expectations.
So I think they've done a decent job at promoting him. You know,
he's done very well this season. I've talked about him at nauseum,
so I'm trying not to talk about him too much here. But yeah,
you know, he's a great player, and hopefully he can continue to do
great things in Montreal, whether they win the Great Cup tomorrow or not.
Jason, any other thoughts on the game itself. We'll bring Jamie in here,
I see him standing by anything else on the game itself, We'll circle
back here throughout some other staff anything us we want to make sure you get
to. Yeah, I think injuries is something I'm looking forward forward to in
this game, or not looking forward to about keeping my eye out for in
this game. Because Montreal very healthy, like barely anybody on the injury report
for them, everybody was practicing this week. But for Winnipeg, a couple
of key guys probably out for this game. Adam big Hill, like we
were talking about before we got on here, probably not gonna play in this
game. Dalton Shown probably not gonna play in this game. Didn't play last
week in the West Finals. So if those two guys aren't playing for Winnipeg,
I think you're gonna see Montreal try to attack the middle of that defense
with the Ron Williams standback. Would have a big game with a big Hill
not being there in the middle. And then on the other side of the
ball, Shown's out. I think, you know, Kenny Lawler is gonna
have to play a big role like he did last week in the West Final.
Well, and we talked here even before and they keep saying that breakfast,
but you know, talking here this morning about Winnipeg not looking necessarily dominant
in the BC win last week, where you know, I want to get
into the Chad Kelly concussion syndrome of it all today here we'll do that.
But you know, Evan here where like Montreal field. I mean, it
feels like a lot of scheme role here going in compared to the kind of
Winnipeg and obviously, I mean they still took care of VC in kind fashion,
but it feels like Montreal's got a little more Jews. Sure, well,
you know I'm gonna use this time. So we've talked about Darnell Sank,
you, Sean Lemon, you know, these high impact players that monts
all brought in, you know, towards the end of their season that have
really given them a boost here in the playoffs. But there's a couple other
Montreal defenders that I want to talk about briefly. You know that maybe you
can look out for tomorrow in the game if you're watching the show. Kabion
Ento, who played four seasons with the Green Bay Packers. His first year
CFL player, he played receiver at Colorado, then switched to dB. He's
come along very quickly this CFL season, again kind of a late bloomer.
Didn't really start doing much till July and then The other guy is Reggie Stubblefield,
who was Montreal's Most Outstanding Rookie nominee former DC defender in the XFL.
This season, he didn't catch on until late either. I think he might
have been cut and then brought back on the practice roster, but he had
an outstanding season. Again, those guys in the secondary really helping out Marc
Antoine de Qua, who you know, had a pivotal pick six in that
Eastern Final last week. Let's bring Jamie. You ready to come on here?
Let's bring Jamie in here. Do you want to come around this way?
We're bringing Jamie Night, Green Zone, everything Saskatchewan, trying not to
kill yourself. Okay, come here, Jamie, coming in here, Jamie
and I appreciate it. We were talking in the FRC suite and all of
that, hanging out. What is the biggest thing you're tracking this week outside
of the game. We got the Jack Kelly of it all. We've got
the logos on the field, We've got the game not being broadcast on TV
in America. What are you what are you ready for? Well? Well,
this week I've been under the who the heck's the next head coach of
the Saskatchewan rough Riders investigation on what's going on with the coaching search, and
I do know they have started the at least the process to start requesting who
they're going to talk to for some of the teams that are out of the
playoffs right now. That's like, you know, Scott Malnovich, Brent Monson
out of Calgary as well, Mark kill Him out of Calgary is another one
at Jordan mcsimmit to the DC Lions, those types of people and then wait
because they're going to have to wait until after the Great Cup to you know,
go after Buck Pierce and maybe nol Thorpe of the Montreal Alouettes and Buck
Pierce of course the offensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. So it's been
interesting trying to keep track on who's talking to who Great Cup week. Yeah,
Jason, we talked. I mean it's this guts who went to kind
of the dumpster fire with all there. I mean, what are we looking
for? What do you have for Jamie? I was going to ask about
Winnipeg. So if Winnipeg wins this game, where did they rank among like
all time CFL teams? Well, making four straight when you look at it
outside of you know, you had the Edmonton Eskimos back in the day made
it to four straight. Then he had Hamilton in like the sixties early sixties
making the four straight and the Regina rough Riders when it was rugby that was
the other team that So just making it the four straight break Cups is unheard
of. So you have that, and then if they win, and they
win three of four, you put them as one of the greatest teams of
all time. They're not the Edmonton team that won five straight, but they're
getting pretty durned close to what they've been able to accomplish. And it's been
fascinating to watch this team do it because there is a time when there are
some patients running in on Mike Oshane Kyle Walter's way back in the day,
and then all of a sudden they turned the corner, started winning games.
The Dominos fell the right way with Zach Klaros and here we are and the
dynasty word is fair, and it's the debate as if they lose, can
you still call him a dynasty. I think they have to win for the
the to be a three or four rather than two of four. Evan what
do you think and then to carry on from there, Well, actually I
had a question about the coaching search in sketchewand so I just wanted to get
your opinion on, you know, who might be the best fit, because
Scott Milanovitch, who I really like, has been a name that's been floated
around. Obviously you pointed that out. Jordan Meximik here in BC is someone
that you know, I've been a big fan of his work. But who
do you think would be the best candidate there? Well, it depends what
you want. Do you want the safest hire that's Scott Milanovitch because he's been
there, done that, you know what he can bring to the table.
Or do you want to do a Mike o'sha type person it was a special
teams coordinator successful and then kind of grow with them as a coach, maybe
have something more longer term potentially. And that's where I think you lean over
to Buck Pierce because sorry people playing django over there if you heard what that
was. But it's one of those things where you look at culture. I'm
a big believer in finding someone from a winning culture who knows how to grow
it. That's why Buck Pierce really appeals to me because of what he's seen
in Winnipeg. But Scott Molnovitch is the safest, most experienced. But I
want the guy who blows dereme odea away. That's who I really want.
And we don't know who that's going to be until the interview process goes down
and they present a coaching staff that you go, that's the guy, understood.
But I imagine Scott Molenovitch will have, with all his connections, be
able to come up with a heck of a coaching staff for the Riders.
Well, because I saw comment even today that they were looking for, you
know, it needs to be someone that fits this the Scotchwan culture, and
they said, no, I think it needs someone to come in here rebuild
a new culture because clearly what they have right now isn't working. Well,
what's the Saskatchewan culture when you've won four Great Cups in one hundred and ten
years? Like, oh, seriously, what's the do you want to the
guy who believes in that? No, you want a guy who's gonna win
three Great Cups in four years is what you're looking for. That's the culture
he want. So I want a guy who can build his build a culture
and not the Saskatchewan way or the Edmonton way or the Bomber way. Make
it your own and have the group in the room believe in that. So
that's that's where I'd be going. How dysfunctional is the kind of the franchise
now with all of this, And you were on the show near the end
of the season talking and yeah, this is they're gonna even They're gonna lose
their way out of the playoffs and you fire the coach kind of all that
stuff, like what is kind of the welfare check on everything in Veragina?
Well that everybody's pointing the finger at now Craig Dickinson, right, it gets
clear he is the guy you look at even this week talking to Cody Fijardo,
talking to Jason, talking to Darnell Sank about twenty twenty two, not
necessarily twenty twenty three, of course, but it sounded like it was an
absolute gong show in that locker room, especially when they made the decision to
bench Cody and you go, how do you how a do you continue it
on forward with Craig for an extra year for twenty twenty three and gets what
happened the exact same thing played out. So that's where I can understand where
Ryder Nation is coming back on even questioning bringing Jeremo Day back for three years
as the general manager. To do you really have faith in that guy to
make the right higher I would like to think he can. He's been around
the league forever and when Chris Jones bolted, he was pretty much had to
pick Craig Dickinson. Then they go to back to back West Finals. So
it's been two up years, two down years for the rough Riders in Jeremo
Days. This is the most crucial thing he has to do in his entire
career as assistant general manager, everything else right now, this is it for
Jeremy O. Day. He's got to get it right. Jason, we
joked a lot meanly, kind of joked about, you know, Saskatchewan here
watching Jason Moss and co. You know, go to the great gup here.
I want to get your thoughts on that. And then obviously Jamie about
you know here they were the scapegoats last year, kind of sent out of
town packing and now obviously everything what are your thousand and we'll get Jamie.
Yeah, it's a It's an incredible story with the Montreal Alouettes have gone through
this year with obviously Moss and for Jardo. I think that at the end
of the day, they've just been just like kind of a Cinderella story really
because I personally I had them dead last in the CFL standings at the beginning
of the season, so you know, they've bill definitely proved me wrong.
I think, you know, I've definitely underestimated Jason Moss as a head coach
because I think that when you look back in hindsight, he did a pretty
good job in Edmonton, Like you look at what that team's become since he
was fired in twenty nineteen. Yeah, just quite a difference for that organization.
So we give credit to Jason Moss. Jason Moss, the one thing
I very much appreciate and talking to him was when he was in Edmonton,
they were one of the most undisciplined teams in the Canadian Football League and it
was because he looked at himself and when it's well, how disciplined was I
on the sideline throwing headsets, smashing gatorade bottles? Like how can I expect
my team to play discipline? When I can't even control myself. And he
still tips the line, dances on that line pretty close at times, but
he's not throwing things anymore. Like he's looked at himself on how can I
grow as a person. And it was interesting talking to Danny Machoca this week
and said, I'm Danny said, not glad that he went through what he
did in the Saskatchewan, but watching him go through what he did in the
Saskatchewan, come through it, grow from it, learn internally from it.
He believed in Jason Moss even more to hire him as the head coach of
the Montreal Aloette. So that's the big credit to Jason on the growth as
a head coach. And with co it's it's not like he's blowing the world
away in his play like it is. It is a strong, strong defense
he's got. But what Cody's doing is he's not trying to be the hero
every down like it seemed like he was at times when it was going off
the rails in Saskatchewan, trying to be the guy that pushes the team forward.
He understands he's just one piece. He's a big piece, but one
piece of the puzzle in Montreal and it's paid off. In these playoffs.
He's only he's made two bad throws. They've both been intercepted. Thankfully he
didn't go for pick sixes in Montreal's way. But that's that's where Cody's at.
I expect him in this in this game to actually lose his use his
legs more and dance around, not dance around. But if Adam Bighill doesn't
play, attack Shane Goce up the middle on some QB draw stuff to really
and probably test them early to see where Goacher's game's at and what's going to
be the biggest game of his career. Well, Evan Weird, I can
I always having one of the conversations that I could have been with Jamie someone
over the weekend was talking like Jason Moss like used to kind of getting the
best of Cody now and maybe not making him have it be a long ball
down the field push it'd be a little bit more dgon that. What do
you make of how Jason's been using Cody here and they obviously will get well.
I think it's good to see Cody kind of step back and being a
bit more reserved role. He's letting other people on the team kind of figure
things out. I mean, the big story about Montreal has been their defense,
not the offense. Now Montreal has several offensive pieces that I like.
They've got Austin Mack, who I've talked about it in nauseum. They have
kay On, Julian Grant, you know, a couple other guys there you
know, will stand back in the running game, you know. So I'm
just really happy to see, you know, Cody's not he doesn't have to
play hero ball. You know, he's been I've kind of used the term
game manager of the season. I think he's more than that. He brings
more to the table right there. I don't think that you know, they're
in the Great Cup for a reason, and Cody plays a significant role with
that as the quarterback of the team. But yeah, I think you know,
him and Jason are a great pairing, and Cody's talked about that,
you know, he's talked about what a great leader Jason's been for him.
And it's really nice to see Jason too, because, as we've already pointed
out, you know, those guys were kind of the scapegoats in Saskatchewan.
They were made out to be the problem, and then here you know,
Jason Moss is, you know, in a Gray Cup against one of you
know, the I guess dynasties you could say, in the CFL. And
Saskatchewan was right back where they were last year where they had an end of
the season slide. And you know, I don't want to bring too much
in that up just give you any PETTSD, but hey, I you know,
yeah, I mean that's just what it is. You know, It's
one of those things where they prove a lot of people wrong. And we'll
see if they continue to do that tomorrow. And we had a Twitter comment
here, why does his presentation look more professional than CFL on TSN. I
appreciate that. I appreciate the and nothing like an iPhone in the ring light
here? What do you make here, Cody? Because there's been a lot
of like are they you know if I lived in the States. Here we've
got the brock Perny and what's in the elite quarterback and all that kind of
stuff. Here, I mean, Cody's in the Gray Cup. I couldn't
be more proud. What do you make of his play coming into this year?
Now? Well, me and Cody kind of well, he blocked me
on Twitter right, So like he knew what I was saying about him last
year. And I'm not going to say that we were wrong about Cody Fajardo
because as I mentioned, it's not like he's light in the world on fire
at thirty one touchdown passes, Like his numbers are pretty well basically the same
as they were with the rough Riders last season. He's also got an exceptional
defense surrounding him. So Jason Danny Machocha has done a great job building that
Montreal Alouette team and allowing Cody Fajardo to be doesn't have to be all world
to win football games. And Cody, he's told me he's been off Twitter
all year. That really got to him in Saskatchewan. Like I talked about
Jason growing and that's a growth point for Cody, it was getting to him
reading the hitting that mentions button and seeing how many people are down on you
wore him down, so he said, I know, I'm not going to
do it. It's all growth for both of those guys that sometimes you build
yourself up even stronger because you went through adversity than if you didn't. And
I think that's what happened with Cody and Jason Moss. So it's you know,
I walked up to him at Media Day and I went right up to
him and said, hey, man, I was in Saskatchewan saying he's the
quarterback who's never going to get a team to a great Cup is wrong.
And he said, I appreciate that, man like, and he said,
thanks for picking us this week. So he's he's clearly not fully off social
media if he knows I'm picking him this week. Yeah, you need well,
you needed to get on, Like I didn't wait till he's traded to
the team and then go through that and then get him on and kind of
use that as a way before we get you out of here. You know,
we've talked so much and I want to get Jason's thoughts too. Kind
of the work Jason, that Montreal has done this year with Danny kind of
you. We've talked to Sean Lemon and the sinking and all that, Jason,
what do you make of kind of the off season work that Montreal's done.
And then we'll get Jamis. But you know, because like never giving
up here right well, like here Sean Lemon flooded around all these kind of
things. What do you the work that Danny did. Well. I'll even
go even further back, because a few years ago, Montreal I would say
had the worst Canadian talent in the CFL. And just the pieces that they've
been able to draft over the past couple of years, look at Marc Antoine
du Plais, they found guys on the offensive line like Pierre Olivier Lestage.
They got, you know, some good Canadian receivers. I think that aspect
of their team has really improved over the last couple of years and I think
that's a huge reason why they are where they are today. And I think
that, yeah, at the end of the day, the Canadian talent is
very important in this league. Well, Danny's done just on Canadian talent to
build off that. I talked to Danny this week and he said where they've
really built their Canadian talent is building from within the borders of Quebec, Like
like you have two really good strong programs in Quebec, plus the size programs
there too, where it's there's a lot of Quebec talent, and if it's
you know, two guys are the same, He's taken the guy from Quebec
all the time, and even within his coaching staff. He's building within Quebec
and really believing in that Quebec culture, Like this is Quebec's team, even
though it's a Montreal Alabatte. So I appreciate that. From Danny Macoc's point
of view on how he's built Canadian talent has been great and he's doing it.
Like think about where they were without with all the ownership stuff, Like
he was losing his quarterback. He was losing like his star receiver, he
was losing the line back. Like it was all over the place. Like
if Deari's pickt Eugene Lewis and Tremor Harris right there, it's like, oh
my goodness. But he also had extra money to sign Darnell Sankie and Sean
Lemon mid season. The work Danny Machocha did this year, if there was
an Executive of the Year at the CFL Awards, it should be Danny Machocha
for what he's been able to pull off with the Montreal Alots. Last question
for you is, I'm trying to figure out what our stage producer Dorothy here.
We'll get her on at the end of the show. If we figure
out who wants to come on next. How much pressure is there on whoever
comes in Saskatchewan now, I mean here right, they hosted last year,
all that stuff. Now I'll fire, like, what what is that?
You know, what's the timeline here? You're expecting for when someone could potentially
get higher than then? Like, how much pressures are now coming in the
next year for the for the coach. Yeah, people coming in, Oh
my goodness, better win, like you better win. This is a situation
where the fan base is they're not showing up the games anymore, like sixteen
thousand is back when the dog days of the Saskatchewan rough Riders, when I
was a season ticket holder, when I was a teenager, and you could
sit anywhere. You can put your feet over the seats, get relax,
you can walk around, get the many yellow football's, all that stuff at
a game because there's nobody else chasing them around when they got a field goal.
So the pressure is immense on Craig Reynolds, the president, Jeremy O'Day,
the general manager, the new coach. I think can come in there
and understand, yeah, it's win now. But I think there'd be more
pressure on those above this head coach than there will be on the head coach.
But I think there's a good base of talent there you can build around.
But Jeremy's already there doing it. A matter of figuring out is Trevor
Harris coming back at quarterback? And if not, who's gonna throw the football
around? You need a good one to win in this league, There's no
doubt about that. Well a lot of here. I think you have an
exciting offseason ahead, Jamie. I appreciate it. Thanks for coming on.
I'll see it the sweet Lander. We appreciate it. We'll bring Darryl in
here. We got Daryl Davis coming in. He's drinking some water. We
got Darryl. I had a comment here, Drelle. You can come on
that way. Thanks Jamie. I did see a comment here. And I
want to talk more about this with far Han and Naylor as well about the
CFL plus the Great Cup and kind of all of that stuff, because I
do think that that is quite the miss here that you have not an option
with the biggest game of the CFL season here, you know, to be
on broadcast TV in anyway. Evan and I were talking even before the stream
about God forbid, I'm channel surfing and I stumble upon it in my thing.
But we'll get to that. I know Philip CFL plus dot ca and
it's on there. It's free to watch. I just think there needs to
be a better way, a better way to get more people on Darryl.
Here, we've spent the last couple of nights in the FRC suite. Are
you enjoying you're Jordan Everley Babblehead. Well, thanks to the Jordan Beverly barb
our Head. He's my former neighbor, right, so yeah, thank you
for that. There's a really nice treat. I'll let you stay up until
like three or four in the morning and hang out on the suite with me
and keep me awake really late again as always read good to see if Daryl,
what what are you tracking this week? I guess let's get your thoughts
on that we got the CFL plus. You know it's weird, like you
know, rash tweets it out. I'm like, this has been known since
May that the game wasn't going to be on America DV. What do you
make of that? I understand the CFL plus and everyone you know, I
saw Dave Campbell stand don't worry about it and Rob Peterson, but I think
you need to have an option somewhere on broadcast TV. Gonford. But but
what do you make of CFL the Great Cup not being available on the American
TV? Well, you need to have access for people who want to watch
it. Then it used to be on ESPN that you can watch it somewhere,
and I know that everybody's going streaming these days. We're evolving, right,
but how can you not have it on even a basic cable somewhere.
It's probably not gonna be on a broadcast and I work, of course not,
but people want to watch it and there are Canadians all over the world
you'd like to pick it up, and it's gonna be tough if you're just
streaming things. Not everybody gets great reception on their stream so I think that's
a misstep on the Sahal's part, but it's something hopefully they can fix.
What's the biggest storyline your track them this week? What do you want to
talk about? It could be the game, it could be the non bilingual
stuff on the field, like what do you track it? And then we'll
get some questions figure out, well, I'm really local because I'm from Regina,
Saskatchewan, home of the Saskatchewan rough Riders, and what's going on there?
They need a coach right so here I am following guys. Scott Milanovitch
is a lot of Hamilton's offensive coordinator obviously the number one, I believe the
number one choice to become Saskatchein's new head coach after they dumped Craig Dickinson.
Noel Thorpe, the defense coordinator for Montreal, might be considered. Buck Pierce,
I'm sure is being considered as he's an offensive coordinator with Winnipeg. So
those are the stories I'm working on, mostly read. I try to keep
my stuff local. I know there's a lot of national stories international that the
French language thing is always something they have to be very careful of. It's
not as noteworthy in Saskatchewan, but it certainly is with Montreal. In Montreal
and Quebec, and especially with the Montreal Aloettes participating in the Great Cup Game,
you can't mess up things like that. You can't mess up like they
did in the East Final and not have a bilingual singer singing the national anthem.
That's just not the way it worked in Canada. Jason, did you
and what we've talked Scott Melanavinch and kind of all of this stuff him with
Hamilton, do you think he's done enough with you know, with the ty
Cats even though you know, make it to the playoffs not winning, but
like, did he do enough here with his resume? I think that he
did an okay job. I think the offense for Hamilton definitely did improve when
he took over from Tommy Condell midway through this season. But I think the
most important thing is the CFL teams. They value experience and previous experience being
a head coach, and I think that more often often than not, you
see them rehire guys that have been head coaches before. They don't really see
you don't really see guys that haven't been a head coach before get an opportunity
that often. So I think that is working in his favor more than anything.
What do you make of that, Darrell the recycling at CF Here we
sig Jason Mosco and get fired out of him and getting the head but now
hey he's in the Great Cup. Yeah, there are only nine jobs.
And makes a good point because Jerem O. Day, the Rough Riders general
manager, is in a precarious spot. He got stuck with Craig Dickinson a
couple four years ago, five years ago because Chris Jones bolted for the NFL.
So Craig Dickinson was the best coach on their staff, best coaching candidate
on their staff for two years. They made the Western Final and then missed
the playoffs the last two years. So he needs to find somebody. I've
been I realized that Saskatchewan rough Rider fans are furious and Jeremy O Day got
a three year contract extension, but they needed to give him three years so
he can hire a good coach like Milanovich. And the reason why why they
don't recycle a lot of times, especially now, Jeremo Day can't afford to
take a chance on somebody. He needs to find somebody who's proven. Scott
Milanovitch has proven he's won a great cup. I know that he faltered a
little bit at the end of his time in Toronto, but he's won a
great coup and he can put a coaching staff together on short notice, which
is really important thing right now. You have to have people who can coach
and we'll fit within the salary cap. And since he's done that before,
that gives him a real advantage in the in any competition for the whole coaching
job. Evan thoughts on that kind of the recycled talent, you know,
coaching And we've talked about this, you know, for weeks in the Salary
cap and we went through the whole Chris Jones of at all kind of everything
else. Your thoughts on this, Well, the CFL is a tighten the
community, you know, and there's gonna be guys that, you know,
maybe step down and then go back up. I think that's I think that's
perfectly normal. I mean, if we want to talk about Scott Milanovitch again,
I was a very big fan of what he did in Hamilton. I
think that turnaround was quite significant. I understand that, you know, they
still had some things to figure out, you know, bo Levi I kind
of came back late in the season, put him in the mix. You
had Taylor Powell, you had Matt Schieldz, you had a lot of guys
right there was still you know, I don't want to say a lack of
identity, but it wasn't perfect. But you know, Hamilton became competitive when
Milnovitch came in there significantly more competitive than they were with Tommy Condell, and
you know, yeah, they faltered in the playoffs. It's not what we
expected. I think there'd be even more talk about this right now if Hamilton
was able to beat Montreal. But you know, I really like Milanovitch and
like you know, Jamie was saying, you know, I think he's probably
the best Canada. I know he's getting talked about a lot. I know
it's you know, the one that's brought up the most, but yeah,
I mean you look at his resume. It kind of speaks for itself.
And you know, he was again the switch when they made that in Hamilton.
I just I don't think that could be overlooked. I know it wasn't
perfect, but that they really, I mean, that's what put them,
you know, I think into playoffs. Not that the East was outside of
you know, Toronto, not that the East was extremely competitive, but yeah,
in terms of I want to get your thoughts because Hamilton here it seemed
I mean it was a dumpster fire for a lot of the season, and
bo and kind of all that stuff like Stein Howard, and it just seems
like we made the playoffs it's business as usual now, like moving on to
next year, Like what do you make of the Hamilton? Then we'll get
Jason's thoughts, but like just in terms of I okay, like we were
here again and we fell short and then okay, but now we roll it
back next year. Well, I was actually at Hamilton's last Great Cup victory
in nineteen ninety nine, which seems like a generation to go, and I
know there are fewer and fewer people every year who were there. They haven't
they haven't put it back together. We all think Orlando Seinauer is a pretty
good coach and quite popular. But is the advice? Is he a prince
a president? He's the president of football operations? Is he capable of that
job? Well, well he's taken over and the team hasn't really gotten better.
Uh, you find the teams that are having more success now are the
guys? Are the teams that seemed to divide those two jobs. So Orlando,
if he moved up, we thought might happen, and then he could
hire Scott Maladovitch as the head guy. This team is in a little bit
of trouble. Bowie by Mitchell. The Calgary Stampeders dumped him because they knew
he was done. He's done, He's gonna be a great football commentator on
TSM. Let him go do that. I know it's tough for a player
of his ilk to walk away, but he can't play anymore. They obviously
decided that. As they were talking about that, Milanovitch didn't use Bowley By
Mitchell as a quarterback in the playoffs. Matthew Shiltz probably isn't a great quarterback
to do that. I thought Taylor Powell showed a lot of a lot of
potential, but are you going to start him in the in the playoffs?
That's a tough a tough thing for a team to do. They love,
as you guys were talking about, love to have experience. Coaches love to
have experienced quarterbacks, so that's why you put those guys in. And I
thought that bold Levi Mitchell was probably their best chance. Give him one more
chance for a big explosion. But it just doesn't seem like they know exactly
what they're doing in Hamilton at the moment. And I think they're a team
in a little bit of turmoil at the moment, and Scott Milanovitch might actually
want to leave right at the moment because there's more opportunities somewhere else. Jason,
we talked. I mean obviously you can talk you know, Takats as
a fan, and obviously it's a CFL you know, kind of medium.
Ever here, like, what do you see them doing next? Because to
me, it doesn't Okay, it was successful, you made it to the
playoffs, but it doesn't feel successful. Yeah. I think that, you
know, it just seems like they've kind of flat lined under Steinauer. I
think that, you know, look at the first year fifteen and three,
they start out hot, they get to the great cop best record in franchise
history in the regular season, and then they're eight and four or eight and
six in twenty twenty one, and then eight and ten last year, eight
and ten this year. So they've just kind of been regressing throughout the last
few years here. And I think the main common denominator is they can't get
the quarterback situation right. Even when they had Massoli and Evans, they couldn't
really decide on who to play. Really when they you know, it worked
out for them, they got to the Gray Cup, but ultimately they haven't
been able to identify who is the guy and I think that is the biggest
problem. And what do you do for next year? Do you bring bow
back and just roll with him and Taylor Powell? Do you go with Shiltzon
Powell or do you go with I'm gonna throw a possibility out there, McLeod
Bethel Thompson. Do you bring him in and go with him and Taylor Powell
as the combo there. I'm glad you reminded me that. And let's get
Evan Sasin there, because yeah, hear Bo's coming back, all right,
that both you see mccot's coming back. It's not a lot of negative comments
like, oh, we found out that you know, you can't whatever fifty
thousand dollars in space, like God forbid. He tries to go do his
family and all these other things. But what do you make about it?
And then we'll get your well, I mean, I think just in Hamilton
in general, you know, I really like Orlando Steinhauer as much as like
credit Scott Molanovitch for the turnaround in Hamilton. I think stein You know,
also, I was saying at the beginning of the season, if someone's gonna
pull him out of the hole with Steinhauer, with his experience. But I
agree with Jason, you know, I think that they've reached a point now
where they've done what they can. You know, they went to the Great
Cups, they didn't win. It was a very you know, a very
fast acceleration under him, but it's kind of a it's gone down now.
And if you want to talk about hypotheticals, you know, you just mentioned
McLoud, Bethel Thompson, and we'll obviously have Dave Naylor on here later,
but he floated the idea of having June Jones coming back, and you know,
I don't know if that's you know, accurate or not. We'll see.
He expressed interest in coming back. But I really liked June obviously,
you know from the XFL followed that closely. I love his run and shoot
offense. I think that would be great in the Canadian Football League. Might
you know, spark something in Hamilton again, especially if milanovitch le he's right
talking about the offense. I love offensive football, so I'm not gonna rebel
on for too much about that. But yeah, I mean there's a lot
of different ways Hamilton could go. It's just you know, when a season
like this happens where you know, it's really a mixed bag. Ultimately,
you have to switch some things in the middle of the season. You lose
in the playoffs, there's gonna be a lot of questions and you know they
have to answer those two. I'm not as many as Saskatchewan maybe, but
they've definitely got some questions. You left he said, you know, Jim
Jones McLoud all this to mean that now maybe be pretty crazy. What do
you do this? Well, it would be kind of a couple of steps
backwards in terms of history anyway, But there aren't that many guys around who
are who are proven CFL coaches. June Jones has done a good job in
this league. He hasn't forgotten how to coach. Does it look like we're
talking about moving forward and trying to find the next new coaches And that's kind
of why the seafou gets laughed at sometimes and it would take that step backwards
and do it, uh McCloud. Bethel Thompson coming back, Well he's not.
You know, he's a functional quarterback. He could he could help a
lot of teams. He might. You know, Saskatchewan, I don't know
what they're doing with Taylor, with Taylor, Trevor Harris. I'm sorry.
As a quarterback, he's coming off, He's thirty seven years old, he's
getting half a million dollars. He broken a knee in five places. Is
he worth paying the highest salary to ever in the history of the Saskatchewan row
Writers. Probably not so. McLoud, Bethel Thompson might have some options.
So it's it's interesting. This is what we love about Gray Cup. There's
so many people hanging around and we all have these stories and I've talked to
this guy. I've talked to that guy. He wants to come back.
How it all resolves itself. That's what the off seasons for. It's gonna
be a lot of fun to keep watching. That's why we love this league.
Well, no, it is interesting and that it was similarly in terms
of like the coaching throwing that ideas. It was the same to circle back
with kind of the rough rider head coaching and like it was kind of like
here, hey, I want to be the head coach. I want to
be you know, we had John you know John Ryan throwing his name in
the you know, Seattle Seahawk legend right in Super Bowl winning with it.
But kind of rounding out here before we get out, I want to get
your thoughts on kind of the shellacking the Montreal gave to Toronto. I'm gonna,
you know, I'm gonna ask Naylor and all this. I want to
I want to know about this, uh Chad Kelly situation. We've talked about
this. Uh was Chad Kelly under duress here playing in the Gray Cup?
Or was he a full strength in the East Final? He was? He
was? He wasn't the Chad Kelly then we're used to seeing no confidence.
He's throwing off his back foot. He just didn't look like the guy who
had led the Argonauts to a sixteen and two seasons. So something was a
miss for him to come out and say it was a concussion without medical somebody
from the doctor side saying I had he had a concussion. That's that's a
kind of a touchy situation. He wasn't the right guy. Was he concussed?
Perhaps, but there are a lot of reasons that maybe there are other
reasons for why he didn't play very well, and a lot of them are
the Montreal Alouettes. That was an amazing defensive performance by the by the by
Noel Thorpe and his troops. So you know, there do you have?
There's always other reasons why I don't play very well, but he wasn't the
same guy. And if we had done the voting for outstanding player after that
game, I think Reddy Olivera would have won the voting as opposed to Chad
Kelly as being the outstanding player in the league. Yeah, final thoughts on
Matt. I'll get our next guest ready here. Final thoughts on the MP
thing because I was on the plane flying in and I thought we'll get more
thoughts on this as well as I'm sure we will get through the two hours
here. But I mean I was stunned. Yeah, quarterbacks always get the
advantage that they can win all the time. They are the most valuable player
there. I was obviously the most outstanding player because of their statistics read so
that's who gets the votes quite often. But to me, oli Era had
an amazing season two thousand yards. He's a running back, right, and
Zach Clara's had okay, But zac Claris's numbers are probably even better than Chad
Kelly's in terms of the quarterback rankings. So what does that tell you that
everybody decided that Olivera was a more important player, a more outstanding player to
his team. That's who I would have voted for. And it was a
surprise to me. I don't know if you guys think the same thing.
Who would you have voted for? Personally, I would have voted for all
of Era. But I do understand, like what you're saying, it's usually
the best player on the best team that wins these awards. Yeah, I
think I would have. You know, it's two criteria. It's usually you
know, a quarterback award, right, someone who's a leader, and it's
usually a regular season award. So you take away that, you know,
performance by Chad Kelly in the East Final. But yeah, I wasn't too
surprised about Chad Kelly. I think, you know, more than anything,
you know, while he you know, yeah, Claro's maybe had better numbers,
you know, Olavara with his you know, two thousand scrimmage yards.
I get that. I just think, you know, while like there wasn't
there wasn't a whole lot of expectation for Chad Kelly in my opinion. I
mean, he played in the Gray Cup, right, you know, he
came in there, you know, a couple of drives, but you know,
outside of that, I mean, you know, there wasn't a whole
lot Like McLeod Bethel Thompson was their guy. He goes to the New Orleans
Breakers in the USFL, and then Chad has suddenly thrust it into this role
and then Toronto goes on to wit you know, tied for the most wins
in a CFL season of all time. Like it's nothing, you know,
and that's that's that's uh, you know that that isn't taken lightly. So
yeah, I think I think Chad. I think Chad earned it. We
have a small child here crying over her following jang. I appreciate it,
Darryl. I appreciate anything else from you will get Jim in here anything else
before I see it, and I I just have a good night in the
suite and go to bed early. Okay, Darryl, thank you very much.
We'll get Jim Mullen in here next. Thank you, Darrell, appreciate
it. Don't check yourself on the bar. We'll get Jim Mullen in here.
President football than everything else. He is saying this canilans, were you
guys surprised? I mean, I truly was with the Olivera thing. I
just think of any year that you're gonna make a statement to me, this
is it. Yeah, I definitely think so, because I think everybody that
I talked to thought Olivera was gonna win this award. But like I said,
at the end of the day, best player on the best team.
You know, it's not like Chad Kelly was an undeserving winner of this award.
I mean he led the league, led the team to the best regular
season in CFL history. So at the end of the day, yeah,
I was surprised, but Chad Kelly was deserving the award. Still, well,
here we go back now. He was at the top of the show
last year and Regina let off we got you on. You come in hot
you see you text me, you say I'll be there. You know,
of course we fit you in parking to be here, so well, we
appreciate you. It is such an honor, after all, it is yere.
I think the most, that the most, the most that Canadian out
here. I will say, I think you're feeling that Jeff Hamilton completely dropped
the ball and I'll throw him under the bus. Jeff Hamilton missing the show
today, Jim Mullen coming in. Jim I was at Randy's stated that because
of course the media one was Tuesday, God forbid that we cover that.
Talking about the question from the audience, U Sports, do you guys you
know we're permanently supposedly moving CFL playoff games to Saturday. Did you have any
consideration about you Sports? And Randy said, I think the quote was like,
we need to look out best for our business. I knew tweeting that
out that will get you riled up. So whether's your thoughts on that.
We'll get into everything else. Well, to one degree, he's right,
they have to do what's best for their business. And I think in terms
of what we've seen at the gate and what we started to see in terms
of television numbers, I think he's been doing the best for his business here.
That being said, part of what's good for business is alignment with the
rest of the football community, and I don't think that piece has been worked
on yet. However, I will say this about U Sports, about Canadian
Junior Football League, guys, do yourself a favor. What time these games
are being played, play around them? There was I pointed it out on
grid Iron Nation this week that there was one point last Saturday where the BC
Lions, the Canadian Bowl in Victoria, and the UBC Thunderbirds were all playing
at the same time for an hour. That can't happen again. And so
for something like junior football like the Canadian Bowl, play it on Sunday.
NFL fans are going to be NFL fans. They're not showing up for junior
football in Canada, right, true football fans are going to be showing up
for that live event. In university football in Western Canada, they play on
Friday nights. I know that then that may create some discomfort for the high
school football community. That could have a cascading effect there. I play one
game on Friday, move a game earlier with time zones. There's a way
to do this if you actually plan and you actually align. And quite frankly,
my my panelists said, well, that's kind of a job for you
football Canada guys. So I opened up my big yapp and now people are
looking at me thinking that I'm going to direct the traffic. I'm not sure
if I want to take that on, but we'll see. Jason, what
do you make of the Saturday playoffs here. To me, it was surprising
that it was one year and now it's like, well it feels pretty permanent.
I mean I was surprised. Yeah. Well, I think they want
to be more consistent this time around, because I think it was two thousand
and eight that they did it on Saturday just for the one year, and
then they changed it right back to Sunday. So I think they want to
at least give it some runway and give them some you know, more of
a sample size for it. My one week, because I like the Saturday
games by one week, would be to just play it at one o'clock Eastern
and four o'clock Eastern and avoid the hockey night in Canada, you know,
audience, because hockey in Canada is really the big player in Canadian sports television.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I don't. This isn't exactly
my wheelhouse in terms of football scheduling, but I did enjoy, you know,
having the games on Saturdays. I think, you know, from the
US perspective, when you're not like, you know, I'm streaming the games
off CFL Plus, right, so it's a bit different because you're not you
know, actively browsing through channels and I know, like on Saturdays, I
mean, that's a big college football day, you know, so you can't
you know, yeah, you're you're trying to maybe get away from the NFL,
but you can't get away from everything. You know, there's gonna have
to be some overlap. And then in terms of you know, U sports
and that kind of overlap. That's not really my wheelhouse either, but I
think, you know, it is important to keep you know, growing and
developing the Canadian game and to making to make sure you know that these schedules
are somewhat separated. I think that's also important too. So there's a lot
to consider, you know. I'm just gonna say, Hockey Night in Canada
is gonna be Hockey Night in Canada. This is like the NFL piece here
too. Play those two CFL games, follow it up with it with a
U sport playoff game that goes up against Hockey Night in Canada, because hockey
eyes are gonna go to hockey. Football wise are gonna go to football.
Like they're starting at a very very low foundation, and terms of their numbers
because they've been off TV for so long, if they just get on TV,
there will be numbers that migrate to it, that'll be a plus,
because you know, seventy one hundred and forty two hundred thousand plus zero is
still those numbers, and that's what they're getting right now in that CBC gym
world they're in in terms of the relationships right now with all the football and
I know we went through all the CBA stuff last year and they being like,
how are you feeling in terms of the CFL working and kind of communication
with U Sports and kind of everything else in general. Well, to put
the U Sports thing aside, I think from the Football Canada perspective, with
FLAG going into the Olympics, I think that's opened up a lot of opportunities,
not just for ourselves putting two teams into the Olympic Games, but an
opportunity for the CFL to find ways to work with us so we can evaluate
athletes, because right now, we send a club team that wins a club
competition into global competition, and most nations don't do that. And in a
country as vast as Canada, we need to find these points where we can
run combine like activities and have numbers that we can start evaluating athletes with.
I think the CFL is a potential partner in that. There's a program that's
also going to be announced very soon about officials development. CFL is going to
be a part of that. So whatever turbulence was in the past, that's
in the past right now, and at the end of the day, I
think the CFL has assessed what's going on at the grassroots level, assess the
role of football Canada and is willing to step up big time in a way
they haven't before. And that's a real change in direction from some of the
previous conversations we've had. What do you attribute that to. I think it's
a refocus on their part. I think they went down a certain path.
Some of it was working, some of it wasn't working. And I think
in addition to that, there's probably new owners an around the table that havent
to grassroots football here. Carl Pelado from Quebec City knows the effect of the
Laval Rouge or in that market, right. Lamar Doman, I've had discussions
with him, especially on the SFU piece. He's committed to grassroots football.
I mean he coaches his son's flag teams and has made investments in those flag
programs. So when you have that change in ownership and those new voices around
that table of essentially Randy's bosses, They're going to take a look at different
ways to approach grassroots football and see a value in not just developing football players,
but also developing the next generation of fans. And that's something the CFL
needs in those nine markets. Jason thoughts, Oh, yeah, for sure,
I think that. Yeah, getting the grassroots involved. I think even
if you look at the festival this week, they're doing a lot of things
with they have a flag football field set up in the armory here in Hamilton.
They're doing a bunch of stuff for kids to get involved and just be
exposed to the CFL game or be around the league. So I think that's
really important for the CFL going forward. Jim, I want to talk about
the ownership and all of that now, Like you said, getting these new
voices in, how important is that here in twenty twenty three, and because
you Randy came out, Okay, we're up this and the demos are good
and everything's rosy, Like, how what do you attribute that growth to?
Is it getting these new owners in. We're seeing success in Toronto, you
know on the field that helps and then you have AMR Pierre, Like you
know, it feels like certain markets and maybe weren't healthy before a healthy now
are you what do you attribute that to? Well, I think there is
some new energy with those new owners, and the new energy came in just
in time after the pandemic. I think the CFL really paid the price for
not even having some sort of bubble competition for six weeks or six games,
and a lot of those fans discovered that there were other things to do that
there was that twenty percent drop off of people that just didn't return, so
a lot of that that can diruction back is now giving them momentum. I
think I think I feel momentum around the league right now, guys, I
really do. I think there are some things that are getting traction, some
things they're doing right. They're certainly not out of the woods yet, but
at least the direction is positive. I sure hope that it's not just talk
around Halifax though. I sure hope that that there's that focus on that tenth
team because that would be a game changer for this league. Are you viewing
evan kind of positive energy right now in the CFL? Absolutely? And I
think all this discussion has actually brought up a point that I haven't thought about
in a while, and that would be sort of the global development of you
know, the CFL and maybe just Canadian football in general. I know,
I think it was back in twenty nineteen the CFL had a joint draft with
the LFA league in Mexico. And now you're seeing a lot more guys,
I mean, you know, besides the Australian punters obviously, right. I
mean Toronto just had a kick or come in in that last game against Saskatchewan
in the regular season who was a Spanish to send who played in the LFA.
Now he struggled in that game. But they're bringing these guys in and
given them playing time. And I think what's really important too is again not
just specialists, but guys you know, from overseas, other positions, maybe
defensive end for example. That's something that I'm really interested to see continue to
develop because I think the CFL is a very diversely guest. There's only nine
teams. Yes, there's work that needs to be done, but this game
can grow, you know, and I take I take great pride in being
at least some part of that. Jim is someone that you know, we
talk a lot of Mariners, a lot of American sports as well, and
you know, we get into all that and oh Tani, you know that
what was it the article that came out? But I want to get your
thoughts team sell the team. I want to get your thoughts on the CFL
plus and all of this. We talked a little bit before with Darryl and
the you know, Great Cup only available online, not streaming. You know,
the CBS Sports Network package carried a lot more of the summer games.
What do you make of that of trying to you know, and it's not
just America, it's international. If you're outside of Canada, the only way
to watch the Great Cup is online, which it's great that it's available,
but that's still cutting down the large demo of people that aren't able to figure
out, as easy as it might be, figure out how to access that.
That's right, you don't get collisions if you're not on on standard linear
television, and you're missing out still on a lot of people that are out
there that could be consuming your product. That being said, I think the
league in the league office was in a position where they wanted to get revenue
for whatever games they had, So this was the path for them to bring
in revenue and fund the things that they need to do through their to their
front office in Toronto. You know, at the end of the day,
I think that they would like something that's a little more comprehensive than accessible to
the American and international fan. But I think that they they needed the cash
in through the front door, and by doing it this way, they got
the cash in through the front door. Let's see what Let's see what CBS
Sports Network does in future years. So we don't get a vm I what
is a BMI Arizona basketball game re emptying the Gray Cup. I mean,
that's that is kind of embarrassing. But we also need to remember when this
deal came together. Well, it came together really late in the game.
So you know, some of these contracts that that CBS has in place,
they have to realize these contracts. So it's even though it feels like right
now this week that this isn't the greatest deal, at least it's available on
CFL plus. My feeling though with it is when Randy comes out at the
Fans State of the Union and says, yeah, in twenty twenty six will
reevaluate that. I mean that's eternity from that. I mean that's when the
other deal like that's forever. Yeah. Yeah, that's a long ways off,
isn't it. Well, Hopefully, like within the deal that they have,
they can find that path to that to Gray Cup Sunday, Hopefully they
can find find that path to games later in the season that aren't being picked
up in that package, or hopefully they can find a path to splitting their
contract in the United States. I'm keeping an out here. I think Farhan
and Nayl are supposed to come see. We'll keep you if you need to
go. Dorothy can pop in here and fill in before we go. Thoughts
on the game itself here, and we'll get some comments from Evan and Jason.
Thoughts on it. Are we excited? What do you make of the
actual breakup game? Well, I saw the simulation that was played out that
had it was played out ten thousand times, which said that the Bombers would
win twenty seven to twenty four. I think the gap is going to be
much broader and it's going to be lower scoring. I like what Montreal can
do on their defense in many different ways. Got great speed, out of
the defensive backfield. You know. Mike Hogan of the Argos pointed out to
me, says, how many times? How many times did did Montreal's quarterback
get sacked in that last the game was at seven or eight? Yea it
was I think it was eight times, and he threw for two hundred yards,
Yet the scoreboard was the way it was. Like, if you give
me those two stats, I'm saying the Argos are are winning that game nineteen
times out of twenty. This just happened to be the twentieth game. I
don't see Montreal scoring a lot of points in this game. I see them
like in the eleven to fourteen range. I see Winnipeg scrape and something out
in the low twenties to mid twenties. I think it's gonna be a bit
of a wet firecracker on Sunday. Evan, what do you responts to that?
I mean, I think I agree with it being low scoring, but
you know Montreal, Like I didn't pick Montreal, Okay, I haven't made
my official prediction yet, but I do like Winnipeg. I just think,
you know, Montreal just keeps fine in a way. You know, I
think their offense. You know, I said earlier before you were here that
that was probably the most concerning you know, on any side of the football,
whether you're Winnipeg or Montreal, they really need to get moved and you
got to, you know, get a couple of big plays down the field,
Austin Mack and if they can do that, I think they have a
chance. But I think it'll be yea all around a defensive game. I
don't know if there's going to be I'm hoping it's close, right, I
don't know how big the gap will be in scoring. I hope that Montreal
is able to keep it close on whether they score on offense or score on
defense. But yeah, it's it's an interesting one, for sure. I
think we can all agree. You know, this maybe wasn't the quote unquote
sexiest Great Cup matchup. I was saying, you know, I was saying
maybe last week that you know, this was not like I could have gone
through, you know, so many different matchups before I would have landed on
a Winnipeg Montreal, especially given you know, Montreal, the fact that they
didn't beat you know, Toronto bcre Winnipeg in the regular season. But now
none of that matters. They're here and you know, we'll see where it
goes. Jason, I want to get your thoughts on that because we were
talking to turnover my mike here, we're talking to turnover battle and it felt
like when when Saskatchewan it was WINNI big turn on the ball over six times
to saskatchw like and they still you know, is the other way here.
Obviously the argo is lost, but you know, within it, Bang looked
incredibly strong that year in terms of we can turn the ball over this many
times and still beat you like Montreal they got a lot of free on that.
Yeah, for sure. I think that really the formula for Montreal to
win this game, and it's been working for them the whole year is non
offensive touchdowns. I think they had twelve of them this year or something like
that, because they had a lot of return touchdowns and a lot of defensive
touchdowns. If they get one or more of those in this game, I
think they have a shot to win. Jim thoughts on the mop debate here,
We have had a lot of discussion about the Chad Kelly of it all
versus Brady Oliver. I wanted to get your thoughts on that. There's no
debate for me. Chad Kelly is the MLP of the Canadian Football League.
And even saying that, you know, we know about the imbalance schedule between
the West and the East. We know how Toronto Putt only played certain teams
one time. But you know, this is a team that went sixteen and
two. Wasn't active in all of those games, but most of those games.
And and yes he had a tremendous supporting cast, but you know,
in terms of MP there's also a star power piece attached to it too.
There's the ability to sell the game. I'm reminded of the nineteen eighty NBA
Final when everyone tought Kareem Abdul Jabbar was supposed to be the winner, and
Sport magazine actually voted him the MVP of the NBA Finals and he didn't play
in Game seven and the NBA play at he said, Mitya Johnson, you
are going to be the star of this league. You're the MVP of the
final. Because they went after star power, and they went after someone that
could sell the game, and it's important to have somebody that's going to sell
the game in Canada's biggest media center period and for those reasons in addition to
his play on the field. That's why he is the most outstanding player in
the league. Now. Then against Brady oliverra by the way, who I
went down and saw play in a sophomore year in North Dakota. This guy's
got a lot to give you. He had a fantastic year and outstanding year,
but he's not as important to this league as Chad Kelly is. I
got one last question. Far Han and the nailor just texted they're on their
way up. So we got Dan standing by. We'll get to everyone here.
I appreciate uh. In terms of going back to the balance schedule here,
why was it not? I mean, I'm not as smart as you
know. They say. Everyone who's in the holler is like, well,
yah, what was the deal here? Why? Why did we ever vv
it away from that? There you go, there's your answer. I mean,
you take a look at the travel, train, travel bus, travel,
shorter travel in Western Canada. It was a money consideration, just like
just like the consideration with CBS Sports Network. It's about getting money in the
door after having a couple of bad seasons and coming off a pandemic season.
So you know how can you How can you argue when when you're financially challenged
not to not not to do something where you're you're addressing some of your business
model. I'm glad to see that the business model is stabilized enough that we
can run a real balance schedule. And it's kind of imbalanced to you get
a couple of teams playing each other three times a year instead of instead of
twice a year. But for the most part, everybody gets to play each
other twice, and you'll get a truer test of the Argos next year.
The Argos will not be a sixty to two team if they have to play
a home and homes with everybody across the board. I guess I didn't realize
that Jason, that Toronto was getting flack that they didn't play as bal as
the schedule. Well, they didn't play BC NBC and they didn't play Winnipeg
at home, so they played only those two top two teams from the West
only once each and obviously that Winnipeg game didn't matter at that point of the
season. So yeah, I'm very interested to see how it works out next
year when it goes back to the balance schedule. One thing I'm looking forward
forward to is seeing if there's a crossover team next year, because the last
three years we haven't seen a crossover team. But the last time there was
a balance schedule in twenty nineteen, Edmonton crossed over. So Rebi I,
Evan, any comments from you I see in our next guests come in here,
Jim, I appreciate it. Anything else from your first time, we'll
go to have it. I just saw them just pass right by here right.
You know, I'm getting a back ache from carrying them, so so
if you can get me some advil from to address my back eight from carrying
those those two plouts, I would be appreciated. Yeah, we have the
investigator jurists here. Well, hey, Dorothy, could she go track down
Jim, Thank you so much. Maybe you can pass along the message to
Dorothy here. Thank you so much. There we go. Okay, they
found it. They found it. We'll get him on here. We'll get
them on here. Whenever you were waiting for you guys here and get on
here. We got come on the other side. Please. We got Dave
Naylor Farhan coming on here. A little movie chairs here, Evanson taking a
seat here, we got Naylor, I will give that one. Here.
Good to see you guys walking the big investigative journalists of the CFL. Walk
right on by the mark As booth here. I got a question first,
we'll get both of you. I have heard a lot this week. I
know that there's a lot of you know, media politickings and all that.
Did Jack Kelly have a concussion when he played the East Finals? I mean
our conversations with people around the Toronto Argonauts and the Canadian Football League There is
nothing to indicate that he had a concussion during that game. And you know
that that is just from those sources and those people that were around that,
I mean the concussions, the league's concussion spot are you know, various people
on the Toronto Argonauts staff and in that organization. We cannot find no evidence
that he had a concussion during that game. Yeah, people looking at it
after the fact and they're trying to look for that moment in game where they
might have missed it. And look, it's a tricky topic, right because
it's easy to say that, you know, Chad Kelly's looking for an excuse
because he had a poor game or what have you. I mean, and
that narrative is out there. But at the end of the day, you
don't know when concussions do or don't occur in a game, and it's not
always the obvious. So we're not sitting here saying he didn't have them.
But certainly the people around the team and around the league that are looking at
it are are, I don't want to say skeptical, but there's still a
little bit of confusion on the topic. For sure. What do we make
of this, the bilingualness of the stadium and everything going on here. I've
seen a lot of reports coming out about the league embarrassed. It is true,
is it with the having the CFL logo and all of that on the
field and everything in French? Is that accurate? I have heard about this
issue. This is not one I've had a chance to dig into. And
when I was asked about it, I was at the Armory, where the
festival is and where our TSN stage is, and I looked out across the
signage at the Armory and I did not see anything in French. And so
that that is only what I can tell you because I was at the Armory
when this issue was brought to my attention. But given the nature of our
day today. It has not been something we have had a lot of time
to dig into. Is that a big deal to Evning, Yeah, it
is in this country. I mean this is this is a bilingual country.
It's a bilingual league. You've got a team from Quebec in it. You
know. I don't know that it's necessarily on Hamilton to do all of that
throughout the city, but certainly as far as being in the stadium, you
want to make sure that that's reflective of the Great Cup game and what's going
on in the field. Well, and it was an issue that was brought
to the attention of the commissioner during this State of the League address on Tuesday
that Oh Canada. When it was performed at the East Division final in Toronto
with Montreal, there was performed unilingually in English. The commissioner explained that the
anthem singer that was selected by the Argonauts was not capable of singing it in
French. What is going on with McCleod Bethel Thompson. That is I think
McLeod's gonna be back in the Canadian football picture. No, I don't think
that's a slam dunk. I have spoken to his agent who's here in Hamilton
this week And McLeod wants to keep playing. He's gonna be thirty six next
January. Spring football is still an option for him. He was in the
USFL, he had a lot of success there. He could potentially go back
there. But I get the sense that if somebody could, you know,
offer him a starting job and everything that goes with that, my sense is
he probably would lean to coming back here. We'll see if that fit is
there. You know, talking to people around the league, I think a
lot of people are going to kick the tires on McLeod. Who's going to
dive right in and say it's your job. Maybe Ottawa, And that's not
something we've heard from Ottawa. That's just us kind of evaluating the situations and
who's available at quarterback league wide. But yeah, I think there's a real
possibility that he comes back. And you know, this is this is kind
of a f about what's going on. I mean, you know obviously about
what's going on in the XFL and the USFL more than we do, but
there is a little bit of There are some players that are a little nervous,
right Like I talked to some I talked to some executives, and they
have said we've been able to sign a couple of players earlier than we would
have at this time last year when everybody wanted to wait. Now there's some
guys that are a little nervous just because the timing and schedules haven't been set
yet. I don't know if McCloud necessarily fits into that category, but you
know interesting that he has got eyes wide open in terms of possibly coming back.
I'll go to you in a second half. And I got one more
for Dave because they reminded me of that. I saw your tweet this morning.
Yet a little change in too, and of like the CFL doesn't have
to worry about the spring league now there's so much uncertainly. I just thought
it was funny because what he said, you just said they've fought off many
challengers. Yeah, yeah, we've conquered alf of No. I think that
we're saying is that the direction of things. Look look when when the XFL
CFL merger was happening, Let's remember what was going on. The Canadan Football
League hadn't played in a year. You know, there were teams that didn't
have money. There was a league that was you know, basically the coffers
were empty, and that was that the consideration of that possibility, Let's be
honest about it was brought about by desperation and all you know, as reporters
on that and we're asked for our opinions, all far Hunt and I ever
did was advocate that they needed to explore it thoroughly, which they did.
Okay, we never said they need to do this or die or things those
things that have been put in our mouths. That is not what we said
at the time. Now, I think what was happening and is our understanding
that in the new league, the coach's salary structure will be more like the
USFL than the XFL, and that's going to reduce competition for the Canadian Football
League in terms of coaches. So that is one sort of you know,
challenger on the on the coaching front that's going to be I think diminished.
And I just think the general uncertainty you know about these leagues. I mean,
what's the schedule of this league? You know, where the city?
All these kinds of questions that still remain unanswered by the time you get to
November. We know football, professional football is and uncertain enough business as it
is. If I was a player, I guess I could look north and
say, well, I know where the teams are, and I know when
the season starts, and I know who the coaches and the GMS are.
I mean, there's just a lot more stability north of the border than south
right now when it comes to what we still term alternative professional football. And
you know me, I'm not a spring football hater. I've always been that
guy that says, more football is good football. You know that. So
I'm happy to come hang out with you to see Dragon's game at any point.
Well, so, like I said, so for us like, there's
certainly no celebration or glee, Like I think more football is good. But
you know, just what's happened from everything we've heard, is that I think
initially the XFL wanted to or the USFL wanted to stay on their later timeline
relative to the XFL. So you know, we'll see what happens there in
terms of when they start, did they want to move earlier? Could they
pull that off at this stage of the game or stage of the calendar.
I think it's stuff, But you know, me, for one, I
hope there's a spring football league, right. I mean, I've always said
to you, I didn't think both were going to survive, but I was
hopeful that one would and I still am. Yeah, we're talking to a
challenge. We're talking about challenges for players and coaches. I mean, that's
where the competition exists. And I think, you know, the CFL seems
to be coming out on the high side of that. And you know,
and if you want me to go do sidelines for a USFL again, I
promise you I won't lie any information that I get from coaches. Oh who's
lying? Oh? Come on? Really? Oh I hear it, I
get it, I get it, I got that drugs never gonna die.
I'm just telling you that, you know, I could do a USFL game,
and I'll be truthful about it. Though. Evan, what do you
got? You got Dave and the bar on here? What do you want
to know? Yeah? Well, I mean a couple of things. I'm
not sure we're gonna ask too many questions, just a couple of clarifying points.
I think mccleoud, Bethel Thompson, I'm not sure. You know,
he's a veteran, right, so I don't know where he sits on,
you know, all the merger talks. I don't know if he reads much
into that. I think McCloud Bethel Thompson probably feels more at home in Canada
now. He went to the USFL, you know, because he want to
be close to his family. That's understandable. But I think because he was
in the CFL for you know, so many years, and look, he
didn't prefer poorly in the USFL. No, okay, but it didn't seem
you know, to me, at least it didn't really, I don't know.
The fit to me didn't seem like it was a long term future.
That's just me, you know. I could see him coming back to the
Canadian Football League, you know, in a starting role. He's a veteran.
People respect that, you know. Talking about the merger stuff, I
think one of the more unique storylines, you know, coming out of the
Gray Cup here is Darnell saying King, who played with the Arlington Renegades won
the twenty twenty three XFL Championship, signed late with Montreal, you know,
and him and Sean Lemon have obviously been wrecking the game, you know,
and now sank he has an opportunity here to win two pro football championships in
a year, and that's all great. The question I had, the one
question that I had because I want to keep it for too long. We've
been talking a lot about it already. I don't want to overuse it as
our previous guests, But the MOP debate, you've got Chad Kelly, you've
got Brady olver It's a hot topic. I know I thought Kelly was the
right decision. There were a lot of people that thought Olavera was the right
decision. Where do you guys sit on that? I'm very interested to hear.
Well. Look, I am a huge, huge Chad Kelly fan,
and I mean week number two of the season, I wrote a column saying
Chad Kelly is the most important player in the Canadian Football League and I was
ridiculed for it. And I will stand up right now and tell you the
most important player in the Canadian Football LEA league is Chad Kelly. But when
it came to the MOV vote, I don't. I think Brady Olivera did
his job better than any player in the league this season. And on that
basis, I think Brady Olivera was the most deserving to be the MOP and
I congratulated Chad after the show for his attitude, for his presence, for
what he's meant for the city of Toronto. This is not to take away
from Chad Kelly. I just think overall, Brady olivera you know, fulfilled
his assignment, did what you're asking his team asked him to do better than
anybody else. Yeah, it's most outstanding players, not most valuable player,
right, And certainly Chad had value to the franchise. He had value to
the league, you know, Vernon Adams, we talked about what he was
asked to do in BC relative to guys like Kelly and Zach Hillarris who've got
great old lines and great run games. But to Dave's point, you know,
when you stack up Brady Oliver's season, you know, on the higher
history of what a runs back does in his history both you know, it's
been ten years since the guy's had two thousand all purpose yards and fifteen hundred
rushing yards forty one hundred yards. That's a huge day, you know what
I mean, Like that's any season for a quarterback. So Chad Kelly was
good. I think you can overplay wins because wins are not a quarterback stat
right, like they are not so as great as that that is, you
know, and he didn't play that game against Winnipeg. There's a number of
other things that put it into context. I would take Grady all day in
that debate. All right, last question for you guys. We got Dan
Sandebai and that you guys are busy. I appreciate, you know, they're
going live TSN Mega. Okay, so I hope you talk Mariners with him.
Okay, good, that's that you talk. But I just wanted to
point out that our location was so good two years ago that George Hamilton,
I guess TSN now rented out the whole damn building. I just like last
question for you guys, Randy, and you know it's it's foofy, foofye.
But the State Fan one that they did Friday, you know, he's
talking a lot of growth of the league and demos and everything's out, but
whatever, Like, what's your understanding of kind of the health of everything right
now, because it seems like people, you know, Ambrosie is the greatest
thing in the world right now. Well, I don't know if everyone's jumped
on Randy's bandwagon, but certainly in terms of the metrics around the world the
league, both in terms of attendance, in terms of where the television ratings
are and not just overall ratings, but ratings in the right demo. I
think it is going in the right direction. So you know, it took
some time, and you know there's still ways for it to go. You
know, we were coming down here and we talked about it that boy.
The league is sure improved in specific areas, but in terms of actual diversity,
you know, it crowds at events here in Hamilton and and you know
even at games quite often looked like what the league did forty years ago.
Like I'd love for the look of the league and it's fan based and its
supporters to get a little bit more diverse and things like that, because certainly
the players, the on field product is very diverse in terms of what that
looks like, and you see league with its global initiative trying to go there.
But in terms of where they're at, the quality of play, all
of it, I think it's headed in the right direction. I think it's
been a very positive year for the CFL, and I would echo far Han
sentiments. I mean, just it's vital from a business interest, and Canada's
population, you know, is so diverse now, and that diversity is not
reflected in the stands. They are not by and large New Canadians, and
people who are first generations of New Canadians are not Canadian Football League customers.
And if this league is going to be vital into the future, that has
to change. And but overall, I think what the league has been talking
about with the three biggest markets, I mean, I can't tell you the
number of years we' shown up at the Great Cup, and the biggest concerns
are in order, you know, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Mixed the
order anywhere you want, but those are the soft spots and it's been I
think very gratifying for the league to see, you know, those the improvement
in those places. Some of it goes with the success of the teams,
but I think overall there's been a business improvement. And hey, it's not
that long ago this league was in some very desperate straits and I think people
are walking around right now feeling pretty pretty good about the president and the future
of the Canadian Football League. Awesome. Well, thanks you guys, get
out of here and get back to work. I haven't seen you at the
suite yet. We've been hanging out late ago. You obviously were late arriving.
We flew Thursday. Well, there you go. We'll catch up here.
I appreciate it. I'm watching I'm watching the Huskies in Oregon State tonight,
so I'm not sure I'm making the visit to this week. We got
to you can put it on in the suite far. We got to make
an appearance tonight with read You got it, you got it. Come on,
I will stay about it. You guys, get out of here next
to my all right, we'll get Jason back in here. We'll get Dan
Ralph back in Thank you, I got it. You're good, good,
thank you. All right, thanks guys. We'll get the swap back here.
They're back to work making time coming in here. Let's get Jason and
then can we get Jason? Can you get Dan Ralph? Can you pick
him? We'll get that back in Evan. Thoughts on that, thoughts on
a nailor and part on. Yeah. I thought it was great. You
know, I think their point about, you know, the progress that's been
made in the Canadian Football League, you know, definitely from a on field
perspective. I think it improved this year overall. Just it feels like we've
really been building, you know, coming off that COVID comeback. This is
what you know, season three really the only second full season because we only
played fourteen games in twenty twenty one. But yeah, overall, I thought
that was a great way to ended off. Dan. Welcome here, Dan,
Ralph Canadian Press. We've been talking with Nathan right whether the photographers Canadian
Press been hanging out in the end this wee a lot with him. I've
been fun What are you tracking this week? A lot of different things to
talk about, what's on your mind. I just want to get through the
week. It's been. It's been you know great, Cup's funny. It's
a you get here and you're excited and then all the work starts and then
by bife last night, I'm ready for the game to be played. So
I'll be honest. I mean, we're tracking a bunch of things. That
can mean you've got the two you know, the game, the two teams
in the game. You've got the commissioner having his news conference on Tuesday telling
you one thing, and then you've got the PA having theirs and telling you
another about they you know, we talk about revenue sharing and the PAS.
The Players Association is saying they haven't got the numbers from the league yet.
For twenty twenty two they filed the grievance to get those numbers so that you
can actually start figuring out the revenue sharing formula. And then and then you've
got the injury situation in BC with the with Dalton shown in Adam big Hill,
which you start following Tuesday and you got to check every day. And
now their game time decisions, so we'll be checking at five point fifty five
tomorrow night, right before the before the game. So myriad of things.
But hey, it's great Cup week. It's a blast and you know I
wouldn't have it any other way. What is the revenue share? So what
is walke us do a little bit more of that because we haven't touched on
this as much yet. It was something that was collectively bargained in the last
CBA and so that was two years ago, and there was a formula in
place by where the league would tell you this is what we took in and
the PA would verify it and there would be a formula where they could share
some of that revenue with the players. At the time of the CBA signing,
it was the first time that the two sides had agreed to revenue share
it. So you sort of assume that, okay, well that's a good
thing, right, And then this year Commissioner and Rosie talked about all the
positives going on. You've got, you know, an increase in attendance in
Toronto, You've got the Montreal Aloettes here after, you know, uncertainty with
their franchise. You've got continued growth in BC. So the economics part of
it look good. And then all of a sudden you're going to the PA
State of the Union and they go, yeah, we we haven't got our
numbers from the league from twenty twenty two. We've had to file agreements to
get them. We want to get the numbers because we want to check them
and verify. And so you begin to think that, okay, well things
maybe aren't as rosy as we're led to believe. So excuse me. So
there's that, and I was surprised. I was quite surprised. But you
know, number one of many things happening this week, it's that's how your
eyes go up. Oh, I just like, yeah, I can't believe
that, Like the CFL hasn't even gotten the numbers to them for the twenty
twenty two season yet. So yeah, that whole fact is bottle my mind,
took me for took me for a loop. So what's the timeline of
that. When are we going to find out what? That's a really good
question. If they filed the grievance, then it has to go to an
arbitrator, then you've got to get that all taken care of. So I
mean that takes a bit of time. Arbitration can be quick, arbitration can
be tedious. That's something we'll keep our eye on moving forward. I asked
the same question you I did with Barhunt and Naylor about Jack Kelly and all
of this Toronto and thoughts, and then we'll get Evan the cummas. Okay,
do I think he had had trauma? Yes, until he unequivocally said
that he had been suffered a concussion or diagnosed with a concussion. I'm a
little skeptical because the story that went out there initially, the word concussion was
in the headline, the word concussion was in a bracket in a quote,
and that's the only attribution to it. So I don't know. I'm not
one hundred percent sure that there was a concussion, levied. I'm a little
perplexed that if he did suffer something, that he didn't let the medical staff
or his coaches know. And if he did suffer it, I'm not sure
it had any bearing on the first pick sixty threw because it was in the
first quarter, but he was off. There was no if and or but
but I can't I'm not a doctor, But I really I felt a little
surprised when that came out because it brought the league into question, It brought
the medical staff for the argos into question, and I'm I don't know.
I didn't see anything. I was at the game. I didn't see any
hit that he was particularly woozy or or had difficulty getting off the field.
But like I said, I'm not a doctor, Evan, I won't make
you comment on the concussion part. But does it take away it feels like
it takes away some of the mantra I'll win here, like well, Chad
was so banged up or I mean, you know what I mean, because
now they're here in the Great Cup and like, well, maybe you didn't
beat as as a as true an opponent. I don't know. Well,
I just think it goes two ways. Because on the one end, if
Chad really did have a concussion, you know, that looks bad on the
team and the medical staff and all that. But if he didn't have a
concussion, it's a very interesting scapegoat to use for what'support you know, what
was just an outright poor performance. So I see both things, both sides
to it. Rather doesn't take away from the Montreal win. I don't know.
I mean, I was focused on Montreal that whole game. I got
to a point even at half where it was only I think ten to three.
I just had a really good feeling with the Montreal the way Montreal was
playing in their defense led by Noel Thorpe. You know, I thought that
they were gonna pull that one out even if it was a one score game.
So I don't know. I mean, at least for me, it
doesn't take away too much from it. But that situation is, Yeah,
it's certainly one that I did not expect to be hearing about for so long.
Yeah, they're you surprised, like, and we had conversations all season.
It was ever since Toronto and rest first, rest and kind all this
stuff, and then they really did just come in and crap the bed for
lack of a better way, I mean, way, are use like,
are you surprised of all this? I was very I I mean I thought
Toronto was going in and I thought if the game was going to get out
of hand, it was going to be the other way. I didn't see
nine turnovers coming. You're talking about a team that turned the ball over twenty
seven times the entire year, and you know a third of that comes in
one playoff game, twenty six thousand at home. If you're going to pick
a time to play your worst game of the year, that's that's not it.
I just I really thought I thought Montreal did a nice job defensively against
Hamilton and not allowing a touchdown. But I also thought you were talking about
two different offenses, but and and Toronto's defense seven sacks, and you know
they they did their part. But you're not going to win a game when
you turn the ball over nine times. So while there's question about you know,
was Kelly Wright was he was he on his game? Hell nine turnovers,
That to me is dominant. Whether Chad was on or off. I
mean it was dominant Tim Capper's messaging. They're running into traffic. Our next
guest. We'll get a couple more with Dan, and then maybe we'll get
at Dorothy in here and you can go do your other work here. I
appreciate it. In terms of the Alolettes here, you know, what do
you make I guess at the game itself, in terms of we've heard the
low scoring, the defensive and they're gonna get killed and everything else. What
do you make of the actual game. I think it's close, I really
do. I just think that Winnipeg is very balanced. And I mean they've
got the quarterback who I think is the most proven and is the most battle
tested quarterback in the CFL, and he's he's at this game for the fourth
time in a row. He's won it, he's been the MVP. But
I think they're balanced. I mean, Grady Elavera ran for over one hundred
yards both times against Montreal this year. They like to establish the run.
They're dedicated to the run, and if they get the run going, I
think that makes Zach even more dangerous. There's some questions about whether or not
Dalton Showing will play He's a big part of their past, their pass offense,
but he's not the only part. And you know, if if I
had Kenny Lawler as my number two receiver, I'd be I'd be pretty good.
So I think I think they're good offensively. I think they're multi they're
multi faceted. And that defense, I mean there is that defense is better
than Toronto's on paper, and Toronto, in my mind, their defense controlled
Montreal's offense. So if if Winnipeg doesn't turn the ball over, and there's
no indication that they will, then I think they win by seven. I
think it's close, but uh, I'd still go with the with the team
that's been here for the fourth time. I have another question about the Toronto
stuff. But you know, Jason, in terms of that, just in
terms of the pedigree of Winnipeg, does that do anything for you? We'll
get Evans thoughts. Also in terms of like the ability to win, Yeah,
I hold you just a little bit there better great, I think so
I think that, you know, you look at the other side of Montfreal.
They don't have a lot of experience in that in that regard obviously,
Like you know, none of these guys are around the last time they they
made it back to the Great Cup and in twenty ten. But yeah,
I think Winnipeg just has so much experience. Like Dan said, they're just
such a well balanced team. I think that, you know, month all,
it just comes down to it. I don't think they have the explosiveness
if this turns into a kind of a shootout, higher scoring game, which
I don't think it will be. I think it will be a lower scoring
game. I think you know, the two number one and number two scoring
defenses in the CFL this season. But I think at the end of the
day, yeah, Winnipeg's experience will play a big role. Oh absolutely.
I mean, look, you know, this team's been in the Great Cup
since twenty nineteen. I understand there wasn't a season in twenty twenty, but
it's still four straight. Like I was saying earlier, the only thing that
will be really interesting is if you know, the outlook of Winnipeg from here
on out in the future could be very different depending on whether or not they
win this game, because a lot of a lot of those guys on that
team. And again I don't want to be repetitive, but since we've got
a new guest. I'm gonna bring it up again. A lot of guys
that team are getting older, you know, and I don't want to say
that this is the end of anything, but you know, they lost a
very close game last year, you know, very tough. When you work
your entire season to get to that point you lose by one, you know,
very tough. I mean it's a good game, right for us on
the on the entertainment side, really enjoyed watching that. But if they lose
this game, it's a bit different because Montreal, you know, no one
expected them to be here and they don't have again that pedigree that we're talking
about, they don't have that experience. It really is, you know,
to like, you know, the only guy on Montreal that I can think
of, you know that really is a well not true veteran leader, but
like Christian Mai, Matt Madi yeah, Matt, Yeah, I hope I'm
saying his name right. I can't. I always puts these pronunciations, even
if they're simple. But he's really the only guy, you know that's that's
been there, you know, in that spot for so many years. And
you know, we'll, uh, well, we'll see what happens. But
yeah, I mean Winnipeg's Winnipeg's experience. I think that's a no brainer when
it comes to their odds, you know, in terms of winning this game.
The one thing I wanted to add too, win or lose. We're
going to be watching the Bombers in December because their GM and their two assistant
GMS are in the last years of contracts and they're not Neither of those three
have resigned for twenty twenty four, and there's some there's some question about whether
they can keep one, two or all three. And Kyl Walter's the GMS,
the architect of this team. His fingerprints are all over it, and
I'm I'm really really surprised he's not under contract for next year. But you
know what if they to your point, if they lose and all of a
sudden they're two and two in this thing, in this realm of four,
and they lose their GM in the offseason and they're a year older, and
you know, maybe guys start to see that this is starting to maybe unravel
a little bit. They start taking the money to go to other teams and
get the the you know, the opportunity elsewhere rather than come back and playing
for playing for five if they if they don't play well. Jason, You've
done a lot of videos about and I know you had the one talking about
the Dynasties and the Toronto and all that, But where do you view that
the legacy if they're two and two. Well, there's a lot of teams
in the last twenty years of the CFL that have won two championships. Not
many teams have won three in like I guess the Alouettes won one two thousand
and two and then one back to back twenty nine and twenty ten. But
there was such a gap between those two teams that those those championships that I
wouldn't really consider that like kind of the same team. I guess you still
had like Calvio and Brian Chew on that team, but yeah, it was
kind of a different team. But in terms of winning three Great Cups in
a five year period, it hasn't been done since Edmonton in the nineteen eighties
and late nineteen seventies, and before that, you know, Hamilton in the
sixties and Winnipeg in the fifties and early sixties. So it's you know,
some teams have gotten close. Calgary in the twenty tens, they had what
four great Cups in a row, with three great Cup appearances in a row,
and they got upset in a couple of them. So we've seen some
massive upsets in this game. So nothing would just surprise me with this game
on Sunday, Dan, another question for you. I joked in the thing
during the Toronto loss, you know, we sell that, you know,
biggest attendance ever at beam Upfield, told they lay an egg and now we've
killed another generation of Toronto or you know CFL fans. But how do you
view with the success that they've had now and obviously not dynasty like like Winnipeg
yet, but you know, but the success they found, like it is
the tables, you know, the pendulum swinging, I guess in Toronto or
I mean, what do you view Well, that's a really good question.
I mean I think if they come back next year, I mean, let's
they were sixteen to two this year, but let's not forget this is the
third straight year that they finished first in the East, so the third straight
year that they've hosted the East Finals, so they've sort of set some expectation
of winning there. If they come back next year and put a good season
together they go and finish the deal, because I mean, sixteen to two
is as dominant as you can be in the CFL, but it means nothing
given what happened. So if they go four straight into the you know,
finish first in the East, and they should, and if they host the
East Final again and they should, and heaven forbid, if they get back
into the Gray Cup again and win it, then we can start talking about
that they've turned the corner, right. But right now, I mean,
it's it's nice, it's a nice, feel good story, but invariably we're
always sang butt, right, So I think they have to go next year
and build on that. Not necessarily, I mean, you're not going to
go seventeen to one, but when win the Gray Cup, and then we'll
start talking about, you know that they avenge that the same scenario next year
if they get in and win it. That We talked to Brady ali Ara
and the Bombers again this year about being one point short and how that had
a you know, motivating factor in their offseason because we'd be talking about a
team that that could win four straight and so to me, three straight in
four years, I'm not ready to call it a dynasty, four straight in
four years. Yeah, then then you're forced too. I got one last
question, Tim Cliff here getting said that prayer. We'll get him on and
maybe Jason can Stan and evaganb I forgot we had to tube person guests.
Ire the last question for you with with Toronto. You know we made all
this and resting on their laurels or wrestling players all that were they Were they
prepared enough going into the East Final? Did you view that? I mean
the Chack Kelly aside, I mean the team is a whole. I didn't.
I did not think they were rusty. I did not think there was
I thought that coached in Wood you did a very very good job of not
only managing his team after they clinched the the East Division in mid September,
but he also had them. You know, they had a winning record from
that point on, and I think they were in every game except for the
one against Winnipeg, and even then they only lost by ten and they were
leading in the second half. So I did not think that there was any
ring Russ. I did not think that they were you know, they benefited
negatively about having clinched the East so far or so early. No, I
thought they went into They went into the final in good shape. They played
ten straight weeks, they needed a week off. They got that. You
would have thought they would have been wrested. You would have thought they'd have
been rejuvenated. They just ran into a buzzsaw. And you know what,
it was Chad's first playoff game, and maybe he'll learn something from it.
But there wasn't a game this year that he was pressured like he was pressured
last weekends. For the first time this year, I really thought I saw
a guy who was a little shell shocked. All right, Well, thank
you, Dan, I appreciate it. It's good seeing he as always there
we go. I think he were sitting around. Appreciate it. We'll bring
in Tim and Cliffe, Jason, you stick around, Evan, maybe you
can give Cliffey the mic. Jason, you stick around. I will bring
that me in here. Come on, guys, got our guests and then
we got Baker standing by. We'll talk that coming out at the end.
Appreciate it. Moving chairs here, Cliffee, how are you doing, sir?
Get in here. Tim, Get in here. Tim, you can
take that one. Cliffe, you and I'll share here. How are you
guys doing. I mean I've seen Cliffe in person before, We've don't must
I forget, I don't think we've ever. You got to be on top
of the world right now. How are you guys going? This is incredible.
I mean the vibe here this week has been nothing short of electric.
Uh. You a chance to spend some time with the players, the coaches
and everything that doing media stuff with them has been an absolute blast. It's
been exciting. I mean, all Vellwist nation is excited for this game.
It's it's been incredible. And you guys have been working your tail off.
I see you posting all the postgame interviews, going to practice tim and obviously
you've covered Steph forever and you know, I mean, this is you're not
new, new, but you know it's got to be exciting here knowing it's
your you know, it's your guys' team here. I mean, I couldn't
imagine if if the Lions were here on the other side, right Oh no,
that's for sure. I think it's giving us a very unique opportunity where
we can, you know, cover the owls the way that we want to
cover the owls. I mean, yeah, it's true. If it were
the BC lines or somebody else. It's it's truly. I mean, we
would so put the effort into the effort into it, so to speak.
But no, no, it's just fun. I mean just seeing the just
seeing the players should even though it was just a just you know, a
walk through, just the fun that they were having and the the pictures that
they were taking were just I don't know how many of those pictures will be
seen by by everybody out there, but I mean it was just it was
just so much fun. Now, did you what did you think, on
the scale of one to ten that the Alolettes and we you know, we'd
be here right now? What was your confidence level at the beginning of the
season? Commas level at the beginning season. I'm very much a wait and
see kind of type. So, I mean, like I know a lot
of people, it was all doom and gloom and this team was going to
be your tenth rent out of a nineteen league because that's how bad they were
going to be. But look, let's listen, let's see what happens like
new ownership, new head coach, a lot of new players. I mean,
you just never know. You got to play the games and that's exactly
what they always did. It was, you know, a couple little rough
patches here and there, but this team, bid and large got galvanized,
especially once they're adding key pieces like Sean Lemon, Darnell Sank, you like,
those are some major, major game changers and the player those guys has
really put this team on another level. So, I mean, I'm I'm
blown away just how well this team has come together and how pretty much this
entire season has galvanized them. That'd be honest, how confident were with all
honesty, the Cliff and I were talking about this a few episodes ago because
we rarely try to make predictions on the pod, but we honestly said that
the Owls, at best we felt could make it, make it a nine
to nine season. We really did. But then, you know, especially
coming off you know, coming off this offseason that we had ownership issues.
I'm not thing up as signed free agents and stuff like that. I mean,
it was, you know, you can only be as so much of
a homer as you can for your home team, but you got to look
at it in the right way. We weren't sure, so, you know,
a very pleasant surprise, and as they said, I was able to
get some some pieces that they really missed that I think was said today that
really completed the puzzle, so to speak. But obviously we'll see what happens
on see what happens tomorrow. I saw, you know, because I you
know, I don't do a lot of the other media sessions because we're hanging
out. But you know, I saw, like you were saying the Alwits
walk through and moss And is doing the impressed today and so doing press a
week. I've been very impressed with him. I had my my beanie on
over my ball cap during the East I mean because I lost that whole game.
I was transfixed that entire East finel on CFL plus. When is his
mindset right now? How does he feel going into this, because it's got
to be exciting for him. I think initially there was a lot of gratitude,
like just the feeling like, Okay, we are glad to be here.
But I think that's been gone. I think now it's a matter of
like, yes, we deserve to be here, we are focused, this
is what we want to do, this is what we meant to do.
And you talk about like even just starting a training camp that was the focus
was. You know, they talk about the called the Great Eight as if
they're trying to get go for their eighth breakup championships. So it's a matter
of just go do your job, be great and this and this is a
result. Like now we're less than twenty four hours away from the Great Cup
being played and the Montreal Allots are in it and nobody nobody saw this coming.
I mean, we we had an inkling Okay, this team's gonna do
well. This team, there's a potential here. They just got to do
the work. Guess what. They did the work and they shocked a lot
of people. And I think Jason Moss has to be as focus and as
internalized as he's been over the past couple of weeks. He's got to be
inside. He's got to be like, hell, yeah, this is this
is exactly what I said was gonna happen, and it's come to fruition.
I think they also that we noticed to day too, is that he was
trying to take a lot of the a lot of the emphasis off of him
today and the in the you know, the post game posts that practice media
scrump. He's trying to make sure that get across that it's one team.
One team made it this far, one team will continue. He even said,
I mean he's technically he's going out for He's gonna go out be the
head coach, or sixty four minutes or as he said, or forever how
long it takes to finish the game. I mean, it's it's just what
he was just talking about. You know, when it comes to the culture.
You know, he's there for the culture of Quebec. He's for the
for the Quebecers, for all of all of the province, for the five
one four. It's just so much emphasis and he's just showing so much gratitude,
not only to the organization but to the city itself. Right, I'll
get you. You have a question now or yeah I got a question.
Yeah. First of all, big fan of the podcast, guys, like
the work you guys do over there. I was gonna ask, what is
the formula for Montreal Alwed's win tomorrow? Defense? Defense? That would help
if I did my job defense? I mean, the defense has to play
the exact same game they played last week where they just basically punched Chad Kelly
and the Argos in the mouth and did it again. And again and again.
I think you're gonna have to do that. You're gonna have to contain
Brady Oliver. There's no question about that. This guy is an absolute beast.
But they were able to contain a j Olett forst part, so why
couldn't you do that to Britty OLIVERA You got to get into the Zach player's
cage. You got to rattle him like he he's been stunned before. Let's
not forget the Elks at one point led twenty two nothing earlier this season over
the Blue Bombers. So there's definitely a lot that can go down. And
I think this Allett's team if they can say focus, if Cody Fujardo doesn't
try to be the hero too much and he just does the right like right
things like. I hate using the term game manager, but sometimes you can
game manage your way to things. Now, can you game manage your way
to a great Cup? I highly doubt it, but I mean if Cody
just stays as we've called them, consistently consistent Cody and this defense plays like
as Harison Fire, I think Montreal could definitely make this a game and come
out with a win. I think for me too. It's it's looking at
that there were some improvements that needed to be done, you know, with
you know, Cody leading the team in rushing last week. You know,
I don't I don't see the team, you know, making a game of
it. But I get stand back involved, ant we involved. Uh you
know, it's those guys get going. We've seen what we've We've seen what
Williams Stampeck can do, especially last year versus Toronto. Uh, you know
he's fully healthy this year. Who knows? Man? I mean, I
said, just a matter of just getting the running game going to and you
know, as Cliff and I've been saying all year, even though you know
coach Moss has had a history of going away from it, I don't think
there's gonna be any worry of that this year. And on on Sunday,
Dorothy's tracking down Baker here our last guest, and then she'll hop off before
we get out. I got a question we've had a lot of debate about.
You know, people say like Cody Fijardo isn't a isn't a number one
quarterback, right and he's fine replacement level? How do you view him now?
And obviously you guys are excited to get him in the off season and
then we talked about that. But what have you made of him? And
is he going to help elevate them going into the Great Cup. I think
he realizes what he has in front of him, like he's already won a
Great Cup on when he was a member of the Argylls, but this is
his first chance to lead a team in the Great Cup. I think he
even with him earlier today, like he realizes this moment and it's something that
he's been looking forward to for years and something that he's ready for. And
quite frankly, it's it's gonna be exciting to see what he can do,
because I think he realizes how important this moment is and he's ready for it,
like this is something that he's been working towards for a long time.
Like there's the redemption level of things when it comes to his time in Saskatchewan.
And I don't think it's no to say about so much proving them wrong
as it's proving himself right. As far as I can do this, I
can lead this team to the Promise Plan. So I expect Cody to be
able to go out and do that, like He doesn't have to be the
hero. He just has to play the game that we expect him to and
I truly think with him under center, good things are going to happen for
this Montreal. He wants to be one of the misfit toys. It's one
of the things he keeps on saying, it's my they're all part they're all
missfit toys based off of you know what everybody thought they weren't going to do
this year, So I mean it. I think I said it's Cliff just
mentioned consistently consistent Cody. As long as he's that, I think the Owls
will be fine. Final thoughts from you? Anything else you want to share,
We got Matt ready to come on. Anything else you want to talk
about. Well, like I say, it's been an exciting week here,
a great Cup, but I know Alowhit's nation is excited about the alow Wett.
I feel like the rest of Canada too. Everybody outside of Winnipeg apparently
is pulling for the Alouettes, which is pretty cool, especially since, like
they said, everybody had talked about all this team is gonna be garbage.
They got no hope, blah blah blah, Like all that noise that's clearly
in the past, just like what the Alwitz did this season is clearly in
the past. Right now, all that matters is what happens tomorrow, And
I think this team is really gonna shock a lot of people. I'm not
guaranteeing a win by any stretch, but I think this game is gonna be
very competitive, very entertaining, and I truly think Montreal can get the job
done. Yeah. No, I said it's gonna be a very interesting game.
I'm not in a predictions either, but I think it's it's gonna be
a fun game. I really do. Who knows what can set off either
of these two either these two teams tomorrow, because if it starts off with
another Dakla at pick six, who knows well, and you got Rooy James
lastyear, you're now here right a super star up the postseason. I will
say, I think there's a very strong whether it's pro Montreal or anti Winnipeg
or I mean, I think that there was a lot of people that wanted
to see Montreal win this for a myriad of reasons. But I think that's
exciting, oh definitely, And that's incredible. I mean it's it's so funny.
Like the last time Yelt's r in the Great Cup was twenty ten and
it was i'd say seven to one Rider fans versus Alouett's fans in attendance,
and once again Montreal just had to play their game, like they knew that
they could beat Saskatchewan and they went out and did. It was a lot
more competitive, a lot more exciting, But that was thirteen years ago.
Like now this this is a new team, the new era. This is
a whole lot of new stuff that really truly nobody saw it coming. And
it's going to be exciting. I said, I can't help it be just
a little bit excited. I know, we're less than twenty four hours away
from the from kickoff, this is going to be an absolute gym of a
game, wind loser draw and had to finish off their their potentials first season
for our new owner. Yep, I mean for Pierre, Yeah, for
Pierre Carpellota. I mean I can only imagine what he's feeling right now.
So I mean it's if he's feeling as much as we are in Alowitz Nation.
It's hype just seeing me jo so much hype Tomorrow, Well, bone
Chance. Thank you both for coming and I appreciate it. We'll get Matt
Baker in here. Last one door at the Baker before we get out of
here. Thank you guys so much. Appreciate it. Man, good to
see you. Man. All right, let's get it. Matt Baker,
the man they may able to get Evan back in. Evan can hop in.
We'll do the musical chairs one last time. Here we killed him with
the Mike Campbles, the man that made this all possible. Here, Matt,
get over here. That's in the hot seat. Get over here,
Matt. We're here at the lions Cent. First up there we go with
Jacob. Thank you so much for setting all this up. Yeah, I
was gonna say, I got you this nice location. At least I could
do is get a prime seat. So this is awesome. It's good.
I like your great cup scar for next year. I assume one of these
is coming to marcast direction. I assume right. Yeah, I'm gonna have
to talk to the person who handles the merchandise and I might have to put
in a special request. Yeah, I mean you can maybe finding for Yeah,
for those watching, A big part of my role this week, I
did my job and helping Mike. Yeah, a big part of my role
this week, now that we're not in the game, I'm sure we'll talk
about that. Is Vancouver twenty twenty four. We had a cool little launch
in the lions Den here last night. Commissioner Ambrosie was here and those watching,
supporters of this podcast, supporters of this league get to Vancouver next year,
it's it's going to be a party. Yeah, Evan, what are
you expecting next year VC Gray Cup? No, I mean, I think
it's tremendous. You know, part of my family is obviously from Vancouver on
my mom's side. Great city, you know, spend a lot of time
there. BC Place being, you know, a fantastic venue in the Canadian
Football League. I think it's gonna be a really fun time. Obviously,
you know, this is my first Great Cup, so you know, it's
been fun so far, and but next year I'll kind of get to weigh
against this one, and you know, hopefully more in the future. But
yeah, ultimately I think it's it's gonna be fun. Jason and Mar's got
a lot of you know, Hamilton's sound good here, but Mar's got a
lot of they'll live up to well, you look what they've done with the
the kickoff cof concerts, for the home openers, all the tailgate parties,
so I'm really excited to see what they put together or for next year.
Yeah, man, I like, you know, we see what Amar does
on like a normal Saturday game or you know, I mean normal, but
like what I mean, whether we have expectation levels going in the next year.
Yeah, I mean, don't really have anything to say other other than
that, like I expect something special. I expect him to try to knock
it out of the park. I mean talking here a precedent set with LLL
cool J one Republic home opener concerts. By all accounts, that's gonna be
an annual thing. So you know, you see green Day and Carrie Underwood,
and given Amar Dolman's connections and his experience with landing some big ticket guests
so to speak, I have to think I'd expect something pretty good halftime weekend
performances. Zero insight info at all, but I'm just expecting it to be
uh to be talked. If people have asked me all day, I keep
forgetting to tell you what's green Day's first predictions for We'll go around here.
First on Green Day plays to marcause I don't think Dan ralis getting into the
green bays that list of baby, what do you want Green Day to play?
What do I well? My prediction someone else asked me this. I
think Holiday starts it off. It just seems like a natural I want basket
case, That's what I want first. But I figured they play American idiot
just because they finally, you know, and you just make it Canadian idiot
for this occasion. Yeah, yeah, I agree with Matt. I think
it's gonna be Holiday that opens up. But I do think they're gonna play
American idiot because it's too perfect, not too evan. Yeah, i'd agree.
I mean I'm no Green Day super fans, so some of that might
be above my pay grade. But no, I think it's a good choice.
Uh, Matt, you know, we in a different world. This
is a different Great Cup team festival here with a VC And what did you
make of the season and thoughts kind of finale that we've been. I mean,
obviously we're still kind of in whatever, but post more of them from
the finals. Yeah, very good season that just had a bad ending.
That's simple as that. I mean, consider all the question, remember we
were talking at the start of the season, and the question from a lot
of your guests that you've had on today already, how are they going to
replace Nathan Rourke? How are they going to overcome that? Well, I
think it's safe to say the quarterback position is of no concern. I mean,
I know Vernon Adams Junior didn't have his best game last week, but
he was obviously a little banged up. Different environment outside. I know,
I try to downplay it, but the cold weather, the noise that plays
a role for a team that does its best damage inside on a faster track.
But I think the pieces are in place of Hey, there's always going
to be change. But talking to Neil McAvoy on our podcast today, Inside
here First and now, it's clear they've prioritized a list of potential guys that
they have to get resigned. Matthew Betts is one of those. But yeah,
excite, exciting season had some exciting moments, some great individual performances,
but the end of the day, it was Billy Bean and Moneyball who said,
if you lose your last game of the season, nobody gives a you
know one, I'm not going to go that extreme. But I think with
time people will realize it was another special year. But have to get over
that hump. Now. Yeah, you know we had talked in Vernon and
it is of any issue that could have been an issue all season. Amazing
that Vernon was not that I talk about bats taking home some hardware here.
How's exciting was that for him? Yeah? Well, very well earned and
was up against some good competition in a Darius Pickett as well. Keep in
mind, when you have a team like Toronto sixteen and two, a lot
of times those guys clean up the awards, and yeah, they got their
fair share Chad Kelly mop much to the chagrin of some of those Winnipeg guys,
but it is what it is. But yeah, great player, even
better person. And it's funny he was down playing it when we kept asking
about it. On pace to break that sack record, but that's a special
accomplishment and for that he should be commended. And that's the type of guy
dating back to it, and I remember him going through the combine and the
draft processed third overall pick. I think it was in twenty nineteen. But
remember what happened with Edmonton coaching change. They prioritize different guys, and right
from the moment he got here, he was a player we knew had a
high motor. That's saying to hear about him and yeah, that's he's become
a cornerstone Jays. Any questions, Ah, well, just to build off
the point of Vets, I think that you know, a couple of years
ago, I mean, didn't he have like zero sacks or that zero sacks
with Edmonton in a starting role. So he kind of got written off of
it, and then he got a big contract in free agency and he's more
than limbed up to it. It's crazy, like like if I were to
sit there, like a couple of years ago, like and see where his
career's gone, and you know, very highly tenered guy coming out of the
CFL draft second overall pick, I do believe. So yeah, I'm just
really impressed with what he's done in his career. And then post more than
thoughts on BC and then we'll get back to MAP. Well, I'm gonna
stand by this statement. I think PC was the most fun of football team
to watch in the CFL this year, especially offensively. I think with Vernon,
you know, the way he was able to distribute the ball. I've
been talking about that all season. I think the amount of weapons that they
had, it'll be interesting to see, you know, in the offseason how
the front offices manages, you know, bringing back some of those guys.
But ultimately, I think this was an incredibly fun team to watch. It's
a shame that they ended up losing to the same team in the same position
in the playoffs, you know, being in Winnipeg and having all that.
But we can't change that, right, we can only look at what's happened.
And you know, obviously I'm biased, like you know, BC that
there's a connection there for me. But yeah, I mean this team,
this team was great and there's a lot to build off of. Again,
I know it was already brought up, but yeah, the biggest question,
I think more than anything, was how do you replace Nathan Rourke And they,
you know, hats off again to BC's front office for not only bringing
in Vernon Adams, but bringing them in when they did. They traded for
him at the end of that twenty two season and you know, that's pay
dividends for him. That looks like, you know, another franchise quarterback.
And the thing about Vernon is you know, he's found a home there.
He played well, he's you know, he's got Washington ties, so he's
found a home there. He's not going to pack up and leave like Rourke,
did you know, to the NFL, which is fine, we're not
going to get into that. Well, but just to sort of follow up
on the geographical aspect of it, I mean, I know you saw it.
Kudos to Nick Kowalski and Liam Thompson, our video guys. They chronicled
this. In the offseason. Vernon had basically all the receivers and all the
all the DB's, the skill guys. He hosted them down in Tacoma,
Washington for a little bit of a sort of an impromptu mini camp. He
did the same thing when he was in Montreal. He flew out a bunch
of Alouettes and he called it Lion Lion Kings was the name of it.
So he's all in with this franchise. I mean, he understands the importance
of a starting quarterback on the field, but off the field too. You
have to be an ambassador. You have to sell the game, and he's
done a great job of all that. His teammates have bought in really,
and it wasn't an easy situation coming in right. Nathan Rourke doing what he
was doing, goes down with the yeah, nothing but good things to say
about him. Have anything else on that? I don't think so, Rady.
Now I hear the conversation, we're gonna bring Dorothy in here and then
we're gonna put this show the bed. Final thoughts here, great cup this
year, looking forward to next yor anything else you want to share about this
game specifically. I'm intrigued by it. I mean, it's it's always it's
an intriguing thing when you have a situation like the Alouettes getting better and I
know everyone I know. The knock on Montreal was, oh, they can't
beat the good teams, but they just made a major statement, Say what
you want. Did the argos maybe contribute to their demise? Possibly? But
I'm intrigued for this tomorrow. I have a feeling the Blue Bombers that whole
that whole motivation thing for them. They knew they let one slip last year.
I think I think Winnipeg wins it, but it's gonna come down to
the three minute warning. But hey, I would not be surprised if if
Montreal shocked the world. But I'm excited to see this. See if that
Aloette defense what they can do against Brady Oliver Ea and that's win a peg
attack. Well, Matt, I appreciate it. Like I said, thanks
again giving us a good spot here. The lion said, I appreciate it.
Mail our life easy, So I appreciate it, sir, Well,
yeah, we third times, char Remember two years ago we were trying to
figure out the George Hamilton pub across the street. There was no internet,
there was no it was all like rotary phones and it was really bad.
And last year Casino Regi and okay, not bad, it was good.
But lions Den, let's make this the new tradition. Then. Yeah,
Carolyn said, I have a home here anytime, so she's already promised that.
So I appreciate your castle is our castle or whatever. The seeing is
awesome. Appreciate it, Matt. Thank you. What's getting at Dorothy here
real quick before the end, and then we'll put this show to bed.
Matt, see if you can get my wife over there. Guys winding down
here, I get about the two hour mark. How are we doing?
Doing good? I mean, longer show than what we usually do. But
this is a lot of fun, a lot of the movie piece this year,
Dorothy, you've been chatting. What's the sideline report? Yeah, people
are excited. I met some Lions fans and they're having a good time.
So they had an interesting that they said, whenever the Canucks lose, then
that means that the Lions win the Gray Cup. Apparently It's like, okay,
I don't know. Well, the Canucks are playing the Cracking tonight,
so I hope they lose tonight. We were banking they were banking on them
losing. So yeah, what if you made the Hamilton so far Jason's wonderful
home city. Yes, I think it's awesome. We went out last night
with Jason, had a beer at that Merritt Brewing which was really fun.
And yeah, it's been awesome. It's kind of fun to be back in
a city that we were at, you know, two years ago, so
we know some of the same old Johnson places that we've been so yeah,
and I got some recommends from Alex about places to go. I guess the
the something park. It's by the beach, play boardwalk park or something anyway,
and there's a brewery there so yeah, it's good. They're a great
cup here, your team. I have yet to watch a great Cup without
the Winnipega the They're you excited to see them? Are you hoping for the
cody for jar the Redepth store here? Wow? Nope, not, it's
not delivery, it's the yard. No, I'm kidding. No, I'm
definitely go within a peg clarios and everything. So yeah, I'm excited.
I'm just excited to see the game. And yeah, it's gonna be good.
It's not as cold as last year Regina was freezing and snowing, and
it's been beautiful. So are you excited for Green Day? Yes, I'm
very excited for Green Day. We just bought much more expensive tickets to see
Green Day and Seattle here next year, so certainly cheaper here. Yes,
yes, that's true Green Day and wheezer. Well we'll wind you down here,
Jason. Anything else from you and I'll give Evan last year, we'll
get out of here. We got a band Starry Van here, so it
might be a good time to get out of here anyway. Yeah, nothing
much for me, you know, just a great show today and really looking
forward to the game tomorrow. Yeah, James here a great guest, a
great list of guests, Marcus better than and I appreciate I appreciate everyone watching
live today. I know we'll get viewers tomorrow and stuff as well. I
appreciate it. Evan thoughts from you, I mean, yeah, what a
great guy. It's a lot of great opinions. I'm very interesting to see,
you know, everyone's takes. I you know, not everybody's on the
same page, even in the league where there's only nine teams and there's only
so many players and awards and things of that nature. But that's what makes
the CFL great. It's unique. And I'm sure we'll see that on displayed
tomorrow with the actual Great Cup. If you guys are watching this, give
it the thumbs up. But you know, like I said, a ton
of work Dorothy managing the guests, and Jason spending the time, Evan coming
up and you know we're Evan had miss flights instead of the Houston airport and
then you know, it flew overnight start. You know, I saw comments
and talking about you know, it's you know, obviously TSN and all that,
but this is a lot of work coming in and this is unpaid labor,
and I just appreciate everyone watching it and all the guests obviously in far
Han and Tim and Cliffe there show here talking to Dan, Ralph and everyone
else. So, like I said, make sure you like and subscribe,
I'll play this year. We're gonna go. I'll probably go take a shower
here and then we'll get out of here and go party in Hamilton tonight.
But I appreciate everyone's time, and we'll see you next time. Go alilets
or is that where we're saying? Here, goin Beeg, going a pig.
I just want a good game. Yeah, I'm in the same boat.
I'm not gonna get too controversial. All right, Thanks guys, We'll
see you next time.