Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign
[00:00:03] Speaker B: welcome to the Canadian basketball show, your go to spot for the latest news, stories and analysis on Canadian basketball. I'm your host, Lee Ban Osman. Almost a year ago today, March 25, we officially launched this podcast. Kind of crazy to say, doesn't feel like a year. It feels like just yesterday. Honestly, we started what a journey.
So many guests.
I just want to start the show off by thanking those behind the scenes that y' all don't really see, but make everything work.
JT who does all our photography, makes everyone, all our guests look good. Even me. I don't know how it's possible. Makes me look good.
Jeremiah Tat, my audio producer. Shout out to him. Always getting stuff to me as fast as possible. Whenever I'm on a time crunch, last minute, whatever it is. Shout out to junior Roden Khalifa answers my panic calls and made me not only like, think this was possible, but like showed me and helped me bring this to life. Shout out to Rodwin Able to sf.
He's the wizard behind all the equipment.
Reason wire setup, camera, lights. Looks so good.
Shout out to him. This wouldn't be possible without him. My, my guy, Samatar Omar, who was there from the jump. Long nights, long nights helping me map out this whole thing.
Really appreciate it. Wasami Omar, always helping out, always on standby and making us think bigger, better, larger. And just the ambitions that he has for this podcast makes me see it too.
Lou Espino, he edits all the clips you see across our Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, YouTube pages. Just makes this podcast I feel like better than I ever imagined it could be. Shout out to our interns. They came on not too long ago. Jacques, Jonathan and Todd, y' all make me feel like I'm young, to be honest, even though, like, I'm a few years, just a few years older than these guys, you know. But the creativity you guys have is. Makes me kind of hopeful, you know, with the. The future of sports journalism and, and just media. So dream team of people, we're just growing and the listeners.
The best feeling in the world for me is when someone stops me, like at a basketball event, at a game and be like, yo, I really enjoyed this podcast with X and Y. Like, I listen on my drives in the morning, like, that's the best feeling in the world.
Hopefully, especially some people also hit me and say, hey, I listen to your podcast right before I go to sleep. Hopefully I'm not making you fall asleep. But you know, that's another, that's another story, right? But yeah, we've had so many amazing guests, players, coaches, pioneers, agents, stakeholders.
And it's so fun to do this every week and we'll be here for a long time just to start Year one.
If y' all have a favorite episode, let me know. Shoot me a message. Follow us on IG at the Canadian Basketball Show. Leave us a five star rating and review wherever you listen to your podcast and enjoy Year One. Many more years to come.
On this week's episode, we'll be talking about how to fix, maybe fix, maybe what's good about the Esports Final 8 tournament. The Canadian women's national team's failed attempt at qualifying for the World cup for the first time since 2002, which is kind of crazy and an outlook the senior men's national team World Cup, Olympics to join me to do so is a national sports broadcaster who has traveled the world covering some of the biggest events.
Super Bowl, World cup, like we mentioned, World Series, NBA Finals, Masters. I was looking at him like Wimbledon.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: Yeah, everything.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: He just wrapped up calling the U.S. sports Final 8 tournament in Calgary where the Saskatchewan Huskies won in Quebec. And then the men's side Carlton Ravens won in Calgary, winning their 18th title.
Can somebody stop the Ravens? I'm tired. I'll be honest. In my. When I was in school, I kept seeing them win, but it's annoying. But. Arash Madani, welcome to the show.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Good to see you, boss. Appreciate the invite. I'm. I'm pissed at you. I didn't know this was the one year I would have brought cupcakes or donuts or cake for everybody. Congrats to everybody who's been part of this. Man. Like you got six people.
People don't realize that behind the camera. Yeah, this is, this is a fantastic setup. So congrats to all of you and here's to many more.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Yeah, people don't realize this. It takes a village.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: It really does.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Takes a village. You did the broadcast the esports final eight in Calgary. How was that and what were your expectations going in? I know it probably hasn't been a while since you covered a U.S. sports Final Eight. What were your expectations? And this, did it exceed it?
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Well, it exceeded it on just about every level.
I mean, where do you want to start? If you want to start talking about the level of basketball, if you want to talk about the host, if you want to talk about the venue, if you want to talk about atmosphere, I wasn't, excuse me, I wasn't expecting a ton when it came to Calgary hosting a final eight.
You think basketball towns in this country, Calgary doesn't jump off the page. Of course, I was wrong. I was dead wrong. And then I thought back afterwards. I'm like, the Raptors didn't just show up to Calgary, do training camp without some kind of due diligence, without some kind of background, without knowing what they were going to get.
Friday night. Dinos home, home team playing in the six o'. Clock. Not a seven o', clock, not an eight o' clock game. Six o' clock game. They sold that sucker out. They have a brand new video board, brand new scores desk, brand new hoops all over the place.
Then the national final featuring a team from Ottawa, Ontario, and Lennoxville, Quebec. Lennoxville, Quebec. That has three traffic lights in that town.
And they pretty well sold that thing out, too.
So the venue was top shelf.
The crowds were great, and the ball.
The ball was out of control. I hadn't done A Men's Final 8 since 2008.
Back when I worked at Sportsnet, we had youth sports rights for five or six years.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Shout out to McAuliffe, he was, yeah,
[00:06:36] Speaker A: McAliff would do the men. I did the women. All those years. So I hadn't been around the men's final eight since Brock won it in 08 back when we wrote the score.
Um, and I went to Bishops. I'm rocking my Gator gear today.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: A little biased, but, you know, right. So close.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: So close.
The teams of to, you know, all these old heads keep. Oh, man, in my era, we did this. My era, we did that. Man, are you out of your mind? These guys are so much better.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Oh, they are so much more athletic. They're so much more versatile.
You. You got six, nine dudes who can guard. They say one one to five. Like, when you talk to them, they can guard two through five. They can shoot it. They got an array of post moves. They're. They're.
It's. It was awesome. It was awesome.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: What goes into preparing for something like that? Because you've called so many broadcasts, so many big moments. What goes into preparing for.
Yeah, Event like this, like, it's.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: It is so much more difficult to prepare for something like this compared to any of those assignments you just talked about. Wimbledon, Wimbledon, Super Bowl, Olympics, whatever. Well, maybe not Olympics. Olympics is actually similar. You are starting from scratch on eight teams.
You have, like, if I said to anybody in this room, hey, we're going to the NBA Finals, we got a report on it, the challenge would end up being, man, we. We got 100 ideas. We got to shave this down to 8, 7, 6, whatever the number is.
You go to a youth sports final, eight, your base of knowledge is zero.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Like, what does anybody in this room like? This is a ball crowd.
Yo, can somebody name me a player on the Acadia Axeman?
[00:08:35] Speaker B: That's tough. Shout to Acadia, though.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Shout out.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Shout out to a woman's team because they've been. I know when I was. When I was in school, they were doing their thing.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: So Acadia hadn't been there in, like, 15 years.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Ryan Rigaud, who's from Scarborough, just sophomore baller.
You are start. Like I said, you are starting from the beginning. So takes a while to build your charts. You get on calls with coaches, you know, a couple weeks before I immediately Acadia qualified. First coach was my first call. Talked to the sports information director.
Try to find stories of connections of people I knew. I grew up out east.
Who can I talk to then? You know, Calgary is the host.
Took a calculated guess called UBC before they qualified. Took a calculated guess called Victoria before they qualified.
My Gators didn't even bother talking to Taffy until I got there because, you know, I'd spent some time at tmu, spent some time with Aaron, spent some time with Devereau.
So you're. You're just, you know, building everything you can. You go to PRA every single practice the day before, chatting with the players, chatting with the coaches, chatting with the support staff, chatting with athletic administration.
Etienne Gagnon, the starting power forward for Bishops, wants to be an RCMP officer. Okay, cool. Like, we'll. We'll. We'll get that at some point into the broadcast where it fits.
So you're. You want to treat this week like it's the Olympics because this is their moment. This is their time. They have earned this opportunity. You want to do right by all those kids and a dude. I worked with, Mark Leblanc.
We worked in Olympic research together. He once told me, 99% right is 100% wrong. You got to make sure everything you're saying is accurate on point, because who's watching? Mom, dad, parents, friends, neighbors, aunts, uncles, people who have been part of this journey with them.
You owe it to everybody to explain the story, the journey of all these people. And so that's what goes into it.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Can you explain the chart to me? You brought up people listening.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Oh, man.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: So I was chart of just notes.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: I was a horrible student. So whenever they'd say, hey, you can bring a cheat sheet in, I learned how to really maximize my cheat sheet.
So everybody does it. Differently. And for football, it's completely different than basketball.
But so what you have here, my man, is our starting fives on the top.
The bench guys are on the bottom.
So Charles Robert Bishops is all Canadian. He's the main guy above. There is their record, their head to head, their journey.
And it's every little nugget, every little detail because a lot of people do this electronically type it. I just retain so much more by writing it down.
So what do you want to know about Charles Robert?
Quiet kid, was a water polo player in high school before showing up here.
When he arrived, he could barely run. Now has become one of the best back to the basket players in the country.
Every summer there was growth.
Had opportunities to go south of the border, but said there was unfinished business here. That's something that he told us.
I just said, hey, man, like, you're coming into your nationals, it's fifth year. He just said, I gotta do me 96, 97% average in math.
96, 97% average in math.
Here's a story is Prof. So anyway, I have all this for all their, all the players. And on the back, any extra notes about the team, about the program, about matchups.
Every coach was awesome. I could text them day of the game, they'd come down like, okay, I need info.
What are your thought process on the games? What's going on?
[00:12:43] Speaker B: Is that different compared to like any other sport you cover? Because I'm guessing they use sports. Let's be honest, the coverage is not there.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: So I'm guessing these coaches, they love it when it's like, wow, a guy like Arash wants to come in, who's covered all these events? This is important. This is big time for us.
Like, how much did it mean for them? And then also like, opinion. Why do you think it doesn't get as much national coverage or why it's gone away from getting that national coverage?
[00:13:09] Speaker A: So I think, well, like, like, I appreciate the. I knew half these guys coming in, half of the eight.
I've known Taffy forever. I know Matt McLean being a bishops guy.
Dave Devo, God Deviro. And I go back more than 20 years. That's how old I am. Like when I was first breaking into the business in Ottawa when he was coaching the GGs, that's when him and Smart were going like, battle. Yeah, battling.
And then UBC's coach, I've gotten to know a little bit too. But the other ones were really strangers, but they understood what I was about. They understood what I was trying to do. And so, you know, the day of the semifinal, Deviro and Taffy going at it for the second time in a week.
Yeah, Wilson cup here now, national semifinal there.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: Wilson cup was packed.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: What's going to be different tonight?
And they're so forthcoming about their thoughts and this and that and what the matchups were going to be. So that helps you so much in your preparation going into the game to be on the lookout for things, you know, Vic has a. Victoria has a 611 kid who barely saw the floor.
And I remember talking to Murphy Bernowski, their coach, and I'm like, yo, Sergio rarely his fifth year. Like, what. What's the deal? And he said, oh, when. If we get Bishops, we gotta have something for Robert, because we'll have 20 fouls and he has five.
You know, like, that's the way we got. And sure enough, there was big Sergio out there quite a bit.
So those are the things that just really help resonate with an audience. And I think when coaches realize you care, you're putting the effort in. You want to do what's right for the game.
They're good about it. The reason it doesn't happen in other sports is because all these humans think that, you know, like, this is a congressional hearing and, like, it's Pentagon state secrets.
It's like, dude, I'm just trying to fill out a lineup card here, you know, man, like, do me a solid. Like, we're in the entertainment business, but so many of them are just Belichick got everybody paranoid. You know what I mean?
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
Are you.
The coverage that you did was amazing, but, like, talking about that, too, it's
[00:15:42] Speaker A: like, it wasn't me, though. Like, the team, Jermaine Cummings, the analysts, we had a blast working together. We never worked together. It was like instant chemistry.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: Cammie Koepke was our sideline reporter. Cammie just works her ass off. We. We had a production truck where everybody was so bought in and over, like, cared, and it's so awesome.
Shout out to Ned and Tanner, our producer and director.
Everybody wanted this to be big league.
And when everybody buys in, when everybody cares, when everyone's fully invested, that means the overall show is going to be better.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: See, my issue with that is, like, the broadcast. Amazing. You guys an amazing job. Right?
My question is, I'm guessing you probably talk to some people around you, Sports, is that there is some feeling maybe around coaches, some programs that does youth sports care about their own product in terms of, like, oh, the investment, the national media coverage, that kind of stuff.
From your understanding from chatting with people, do you feel like there was a sense of like, wow, this is like us, the broadcast, we care but is from the national body. Do they care enough about this event?
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah, they do.
Here's the issue. The next week there's a men's volleyball and a women's volleyball. And the next week there's a men's hockey and a women's hockey. And in the middle of all that, at the same time the basketball is going on, there's a track and field and how many people are working at the national body?
And like just over the weekend, I'm one of those weirdos who still goes to the guide. You know, I'm trying to figure out which March Madness game I want to watch. And I'm like, wait a minute, the University cup hockey's on cbc.
You know, we would have been on the CBC main network, but Paralympics was going on last year, the final eight was on the main cbc. Hopefully next year it'll be on too.
It, it's a challenge just like everything else with not just you sports, amateur sports in this country.
Resources are just so spread thin and I appreciate so much the University of Calgary when they made the decision we want to host a final aid for the first time in 40, 50 years, whatever the number was, they made everything a priority.
Like I mentioned, brand new video board, permanent brand new hoops, brand new scores table that's like NBA worthy.
They prioritize the opening banquet, they prioritize having a top shelf broadcast as the host.
They made it a priority and there's a payoff in it.
So like I can speak to that because I had a front row seat to it.
I hope Halifax does the same next year.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: Halifax. I've been to a Halifax U Sports finally. Yeah, watched, unfortunately I watched Ryerson now TMU lose in the finals to Calgary, which is kind of crazy. Tim McAlva was on the call.
Manny Darius hit a crazy shot, but tough loss off a game winning layup.
Halifax to me is up there with crowds like youth sports. Final eight. They, they, they.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Dude, I grew up there. Like it was it.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: They love it.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: The final eight growing up was like the NBA.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Like, but that makes me think, it's like, I think Calgary showed up. Halifax shows up. But I don't know where it was last year. Was it UBC or something last year?
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Ubc, they did both men and women last year.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: And I think I seen someone post a photo and like the crowd was empty. It was like, correct me if I'm wrong, but I, um. There's certain pockets that love and get invested to this. But then I've also heard that some teams are not interested. Like, you won't see a Carlton hosting a U Sports final A. They're there every year. But I haven't seen Carlton host a U Sports final A. I haven't seen TMU on the men's side host a U Sports Final 8 in like.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Cause it takes work.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: It takes work and it takes a lot of money. And from what I've heard, it's like the money back is not likely going to be a return. Like, it's not. You're. You're basically losing money to host a U Sports Final 8.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: TMU hosted a women's. I did.
I think it was the last one we did. The one Mack won.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: Mack beat almost Lavalum in the world final around 2019.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it was sat the old hockey. Like, it wasn't in the gym. It was in the. And it was awesome. And. But it was a great final. Electrifying. And it was a great atmosphere because Mack was in it.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: But if that's Laval versus Sask, who cares? Nobody's there.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: And so, I mean, it's a challenge. It's a real challenge because you're not just selling for the final. You're selling four games Friday, two games Saturday, one game Sunday. And don't even get me started on this consolation garbage.
Like, it might be the stupidest thing I've ever. Like, this is. This is out of control.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: So what are you thoughts on consolation?
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Get rid of it now. Like yesterday, 10 years ago. Like, we are still living like it's 1988. Well, we have to justify the cost of bringing all our teams into the national championship tournament. Get out of here. Are you out of your minds? I'm going to tell you a story. My second year at Bishops. First year, Bishops wins it all. Okay. Only national championship in school history. Almost this year. Amazing time. School of 1800 people, 600 people.
Bus, car, hitchhike, whatever, you name it. In Halifax. Take over downtown.
You know what happened the next year when Bishops got to the final eight? 800 people showed up.
Because all the people who didn't are like, we got to be there for that.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: Friday afternoon, first game, Bishops loses to Brandon. Next game, Ryerson loses to whomever.
Well, it's Friday afternoon.
We're in downtown Halifax.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Oh, we know what to do.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: We know what to do. And guess what? The teams did, they knew what to do, too.
So I'm looking around. We're At Rip JJ Rossi's five dollar pitchers.
I'm looking around, man. There's like Ben Gorham from the old Ryerson. There's Jan Michael Nation. There's, you know, all these dudes. And I look over there and I'm like, there's all the Gators.
And I'm like.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: It's like no one cares.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: 2:30 in the morning.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: No one cares about the concert.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: We've been there for 10 hours.
$5 pitchers.
And judging by the looks of things, those boys, their night wasn't ending then. They had some business to take care of.
11:00 clock the next morning, consolation bishops versus Ryerson.
And I'm doing the broadcast on basketball. Dude, all you smelled was booze coming out of the pores of all the players.
And I'm just like, this is a fiasco. Like this is. This must be the end of the.
That was in 1999. And here we are. And you talk about all the costs to host schools, all the things required. Why? So we can determine who's going to finish fifth?
Come on, man.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: Do you feel like there's conversations about just getting rid of that 00?
[00:23:08] Speaker A: Because that's the way we've always done it.
When you think about what matters to a student athlete, what matters to a university athletic department, what matters to a host, what matters to selling tickets and revenue.
Who is coming to watch that?
Nobody.
And yet we're putting as much money, as much time, as much resources, as much manpower into that as we are. A national semifinal or a gold medal game.
What are we doing?
It's just gotta change. It's gotta end. I. I have no problem with the bronze medal game.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: But consolation. Get out of here.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: Did you have a pick going into esports? Finally. I know you got the Bishops.
[00:23:58] Speaker A: Of course I did.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: I see the game. I just wanted to make sure.
I was shocked. Carlton, honestly did it.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Me too.
[00:24:06] Speaker B: Because I watched them in the semifinals. They did not look like a team that was. I watched them. Sorry. In the Wilson cup against tmu. And it was Belta.
You can finish the sentence. But they did not look a team that was contending. You know. Shout out to my guy, Mark Dyke, who's hit some clutch shots in the semifinals.
He's from. He's not too far from here, but.
Yeah.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: So that dude, dk, by the way.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Hit five threes all season. And then the national semifinal knocks down three of them off the bench. So the team you saw in the Wilson cup still had MJ Okado.
So then Carlton first Game. Boom. Their leading scorer, their fifth year guy who's from Calgary, who's got his own cheering section. Boom, There goes the mcl. He's in a wheelchair.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: That was a crazy story.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: And so without two starters, including their leading scorer, somehow, some way, they did it.
Like, there's a million things you can say about Carlton.
I think this might be the wildest one of all.
18 national championships right on the resume.
They're 180 in gold medal games.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: Crazy. That's a crazy step.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: Those dudes don't lose on Sunday.
And like, you think about the eras. Mike Smart, Rob Smart, Osvaldo.
And then who was it? Ryan Bell took over from there. And then Stu Turnbull, and then, you know, the Scrub brothers and on and on. It's gone.
All these eras.
What was their first one? 2003. I think Dave Smart would still tell you. In 2002, they lost the Wilson cup to York or the OUA east final to York. And they didn't even get into nationals or something, man.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: So what is it about Carlton?
[00:25:57] Speaker A: I could not tell you. Like, Aubrey Dory Havens 0 for 5 on triples in the semifinal, scores 35 in the final.
Okay.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: And he and TMU literally shut him down in the Wilson cup final. Like, he. I don't know how many points he had, but he had. He might have, like, three points. Like, I'm forgetting what the stat was, but he was.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: And I think he had 11 at the half of the national championship game. Like, he was game high or team high 11, but then he just couldn't miss.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: Yeah, Insane.
When we're talking about, obviously, the Constellation finals, that kind of stuff. The U Sports Final 8.
I find it very hard for people to get invested in this tournament because it's like, okay, hey, Marsh, turns out, here's the eight teams in the final eight. Get to know them, that kind of stuff. There's no, like, lead up. There's no, like, okay, here's the players to watch. There's no broadcast that you get to watch. Like, March Madness is on.
Like, there's NCAA happening on tsn. There's games happening every week. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's Arizona. You learn about that. You learn about the players throughout the entire year storylines.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: I used to believe that. I don't believe it anymore.
[00:27:10] Speaker B: Really?
[00:27:11] Speaker A: I really don't.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: You don't think people, like, would be more invested if they knew who was playing for?
[00:27:16] Speaker A: That's what I'm saying. I'm saying I don't think people are invested in College basketball.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: You don't think so?
[00:27:19] Speaker A: I really don't. Really. I really don't. Like, the viewership of March Madness is higher than it's ever been.
I think gambling has a lot to do with it. More people into brackets, blah, blah, blah. But I bet if you talk to most people who filled out a bracket, they could not name you when they filled that thing out.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Most people, 100% no idea.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: They could not name you five players in the field.
[00:27:45] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%.
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Probably not even five players on the team they're picking to win at all.
[00:27:50] Speaker B: Yeah, but it's become so much of a tradition, Right. To fill out a bracket. Right.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: That's it.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: And they'll watch because they're going to take work off on Thursday or Friday or they're going to run to a bar to watch the, you know, the night games and meet up with this crew of people. Like, who doesn't have a March Madness tradition.
But are you even watching the ball until it's a close game the last three minutes, or is it like a Super bowl party?
[00:28:13] Speaker B: No, I agree with that. But then I'm also just like, how can Canada get to the point where we have.
I don't think we'll ever have that college basketball experience.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: Agreed.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: But how can we get to where it's like, I'm going to a Wilson cup final, standing room only, people are there watching. Like, this is like, I'm getting in to the game and they're literally denying people because it's too full.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: But let me stop.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: How can we get to that?
[00:28:41] Speaker A: But if the Wilson cup was a neutral site game every year, people could bid for it. Okay, so let's say TMU is like, we're going to bid for the 20, 26, 2027 Wilson Cup.
And you wake up on Saturday morning and it's Laurentian against Ottawa.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: I'm sorry, I'm not coming right
[00:29:04] Speaker A: now. Think about this now. Think about this.
And I know, like, you say that half joking, but there's a lot of truth to it.
We're talking here. We got people who love ball, right? We got eight dudes in here who could sit here for hours.
And what you're telling me is, man, 15 minute walk.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: I can't do it.
[00:29:29] Speaker A: I can't do it.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: I can't do it. But.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: And that's you.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: So how are we asking everybody else who might have a passing interest in the game to stop everything they're doing on a Saturday, on a Friday, on a Sunday and be locked in to Something when even the most hardcore ball fan like yourself would say, ah, just. I just. I'll just watch some highlights on Instagram.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: But no shade. No shade to Laurentian. I don't know.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: No, no, I know.
[00:30:08] Speaker B: I'll never see them in the Wilson Cup. I don't know.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: So where I'm going with this is like everything that's not the NFL.
Everything has become regional.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: Everything has become regional.
[00:30:24] Speaker B: All right.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: Who, who watched some of the World Series here this year? Jay's Dodgers.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: A lot of people.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: Everybody, right?
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Who watched the World Series two years ago?
[00:30:35] Speaker B: I don't know who was in the World Series, to be honest with you.
[00:30:37] Speaker A: Right. So we just went from 100% to 25% just like that.
If I say, hey, let's, let's all get together to watch Kansas City play Baltimore on a Sunday night. NFL Mahomes against Lamar. Who's down?
There we go.
[00:30:58] Speaker B: I'll be honest, I'm more of a Vikings guy, even though I'm struggling right now.
Okay, well, you know what?
[00:31:04] Speaker A: What if I said, hey, why don't we all get together for the Royals and the Orioles?
[00:31:09] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: Right.
Literally, guys are like choking over here.
The NFL is the only product that is not regional.
The only product.
Everything else, it's. You gotta have a rooting interest, a vested interest, something in it. You're going to the Wilson cup when TMU's in it.
You have no interest in the Wilson cup if they're not 100%.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: And so it's because I'm alumni too,
[00:31:38] Speaker A: you know, so, sure, I want to
[00:31:40] Speaker B: see them get it done.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: So I, I, the, the honest answer to the question is I don't think it's going to have the following. I think there's very little out there that has a following period.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: But you know what? I blame that on, too.
I blame it on now.
Canada west did this.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: No.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: You know, you know what I'm about to say.
[00:32:00] Speaker A: No, I don't.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: OUA now charges to watch games on
[00:32:04] Speaker A: their site, but that won't make a difference.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: But why are they charging? Like, it's just, to me, that Blood
[00:32:10] Speaker A: from a stone, man, I get it.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: But to me, why are they put in an extra barrier from people from watching this? People are like, okay, I want to go watch. Just check out the esports finally. Or the OUA final Eight, because why am I going to watch.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Tuck their golf shirts into khakis. We'll call it an air quote revenue stream.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: But what are they making money off of it. That's. That's my question.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: I'm saying is blood from a stone. It's the same people who are showing up to games who are now paying because they want to watch their loved one, their neighbor, their friend, their whatever.
[00:32:38] Speaker B: But to me, that just ruins the product because, like, you're putting it behind a paywall. This shouldn't be behind a paper.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: I don't think. I don't think that's. It doesn't help, but I don't think that's. There's no one thing. But I'll tell you what the biggest issue is. It's just the world we live in now. Like, the number of screens.
Like, I'm 45, so I'm much older than everybody in this room the majority of my life until, like, graduating high school, graduating university, there was one screen in the house, and whatever that TV screen fed everybody in the family.
That's what we watched.
Like, my sister is all in on sports in the NFL because that's what was on.
She knows college. Like, she roots for Purdue because my dad's college roommate was a prophet. Purdue. Whenever they'd be on, we'd watch.
But now everyone's got five, six screens. Her daughter's growing up watching YouTube. She's not growing up watching college basketball.
I grew up watching the final Eight because, oh, my God, it's in Halifax. Oh, my God. These guys are larger than life. Oh, my God, it's on tsn. Like, this has got to be a big deal now. There's nothing like that. There's no comp for it.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: So 10 years from now.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: Let's just imagine. Like, what.
How would people be consuming a U Sports. Finally, Is it the same way? Do you think like.
Like these broadcasters would be interested.
[00:34:08] Speaker A: No.
[00:34:09] Speaker B: In covering it like this?
[00:34:10] Speaker A: No, no, no, no. Broadcast, like.
Okay, so the honest answer to your question is none of us have a clue how we're going to be consuming stuff 10 years from now.
15 years ago, TikTok was the. Your grandfather's clock.
15 years ago, 10 years ago, Instagram is just where people posted photos.
15 years ago, nobody was streaming.
The reality is 10, 15 years from now, we're all going to be consuming content on a platform that doesn't even exist today.
We now live in a country from a sports standpoint where the two main broadcasters, they're just divisions of a telecom.
So unless it's gonna make immediate cash, there's just no appetite to do anything.
So I don't see it changing.
Although I will say this I think what they have right now is pretty good, all things considered.
CBC is invest. Like I did the Vanier cup in the fall. It was on Saturday afternoon on the CBC main network. On Friday, I'm on CBC Newsnet, like hourly doing like hits into the, into the deal. Now that's not attracting people in this room, but it's at least you know, keeping it live. There's nothing. But there's very little in the lead up. Yeah, there's very little in the lead up and I don't see that changing other than now shows like this, all the internal content channels, schools now more than ever have to be more invested,
[00:35:54] Speaker B: which is kind of like, I don't know. That's why I'm like, who do we blame for that? You know, do we blame just people's attention span? I personally want to blame you sports, but you know, I don't like, I.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: And I mean, I'm being dead serious. Like I don't think there's a blame factor here. Like go where people are and invest there. Like, like blame. Like what are we blaming? That there's no lead up programming to it.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: There's just no promotion. There's no like the people that there's. There's an audience for it. I think there's an audience for it if you can reach the right market and if you invest in it. And I think channels like I, I follow Instagram, right. The only page that does an amazing job in the fourth, you, My guy trunk. He keeps you sports alive. Like he highlights these players and then he, he's grown a massive following because of just highlighting youth sports, basketball, which no one did until he did.
[00:36:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: So I think about pages like that where it's like he's getting hundreds, thousands of views from esports players because people want to watch this. So it's like, so why doesn't you sports do that? Why does he have to do that himself on his own channel?
[00:37:08] Speaker A: Because here's what's going to end up happening. The youth sports office is how many people? 12, 15. Hire more from with what?
Hear me out.
[00:37:16] Speaker B: So that's the question.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Hold up, hold up. So we're going to go invest heavily into hoops, right? Yeah, we're going to promote. There's. How many schools play basketball in this country?
32, 48.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: 52.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: Let's just say 40.
[00:37:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: All right, so we're going to do 80 teams, men and women, right?
58. Great, great. One hundred and sixteen teams we're gonna go crazy on. Right, That's A big ask.
Yo, how many. How many teams play volleyball?
Yo, how many teams. Track and field?
How many teams are in soccer?
How many teams are in weightlifting? How many teams? Like, as a national governing body, what is your role here and what can you do?
Suddenly you're going to start promoting as the.
We're going to do a feature on Aaron for you sports.
Well, suddenly U of T's calling, suddenly Carlton's calling, suddenly Ottawa's calling. They're like, what about my guy? What about my girl? What about my athlete?
[00:38:20] Speaker B: I love that, though. But it is not, like you said, it's not.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: How do you do it? Yeah, so I think.
[00:38:27] Speaker B: But I think what I think too is like, there's so many.
[00:38:30] Speaker A: What are the schools doing?
[00:38:31] Speaker B: That's a good question.
But I also think there's so many students that will love.
Not to say, like, I would have. I would. As a student, I did anything for free.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: Right.
[00:38:41] Speaker B: I would have loved to cover you sports on a national platform or whatever it is to get my experience.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: What national platform is there?
[00:38:48] Speaker B: That's. So why isn't that created is the whole point. It's like that leads me to discussions, like, I think we're having this discussion. Nobody else at youth sports, in my opinion, is probably having this discussion how can we improve the product?
You know, I've had other discussions. I've had a discussion with somebody in Winnipeg, Joey Slater.
[00:39:05] Speaker A: Joey Slater, Yeah, I know Joey.
[00:39:07] Speaker B: He also just.
He's invested. He's trying to bring coverage to a place that also doesn't have that much coverage. Right. I think we're having this discussion and it's so good that we're having a discussion, but I'm like, are they having that discussion up upstairs?
[00:39:21] Speaker A: But what's like, I'm. I'm confused what the discussion is. Like, what, what do you want them to do? What do you want them to be?
[00:39:28] Speaker B: I want them to at least think
[00:39:29] Speaker A: about what content does the NCAA create,
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Whether it's like, let's. Let's talk about it.
Dave was on the show. Dave was on the show just about, like, expanding the tournament to 12 to 16.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: Okay. No, but we're talking about two totally different things.
[00:39:44] Speaker B: No, but like, certain stuff, like esports doesn't even. Like, where are these discussions about improving the product? Improving whether it's investment, whether it's having more teams in a tournament. What are we doing in terms of all that?
[00:39:56] Speaker A: We're suddenly talking about two different things.
[00:39:58] Speaker B: I think it's all together.
[00:39:59] Speaker A: No, it's not. It can't be. Yeah, it's. No, no, it's not. Like if you're talking about promotion, if you're talking about branding, whatever and then you're talking about what your competition looks like. These are two totally different deals.
Do we want to play FIBA or not? FIBA is not the same as. What are we doing to brand our athletes? What are we doing to promote the game?
We're. Now I'm. I'm with Dave.
I would absolutely. Instead of playing consolation games shot multiple teams, why don't we bring four more teams over and like this whole thing about cost and. Well, we got adjustable. Like at the end of a season after you started. Like when do runs start for these teams? August.
[00:40:47] Speaker B: They usually go year on. Honestly. But usually.
[00:40:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. Guys are showing up to campus. Whatever. Okay, let's get going. You're playing, you're starting to play exhibition games in September. Yeah.
[00:40:57] Speaker B: You got.
[00:40:58] Speaker A: Some of them are still playing holiday tournaments. Some of them are not. You go in September to December, then you're going January like you're going non stop.
Do we really think one extra consolation game doesn't break the scales?
[00:41:12] Speaker B: It doesn't.
[00:41:13] Speaker A: Or I. Are we going to bring four more teams to make the competition even better? Even better. 1, 2 reward teams by giving them a buy in the first round who have earned it.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: You know, I'm going to get your thoughts on this because watching the women's team lose in the first round. TMU to a packed house in Lavelle.
[00:41:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: I have this suggestion. Why doesn't the number one see get to pick who they face?
Because I, I would have dodged Lavelle with a pack crowd. They did it a few years prior with the men's side. That crowd was insane.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: I mean look, I'm all for it.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: What would you like? Is there anything.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Here's what's going to end up happening. One, a fist fight is going to break out in the game.
Two, think of the bulletin board material.
[00:42:03] Speaker B: That's. I love it. That's right. That's amazing.
[00:42:05] Speaker A: Right, Right.
[00:42:05] Speaker B: But it brings this more like team you chose you.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: Now it's like let's get to it. Like this is, you know where it's. There's more incentive because what I've been finding it's like. And I think not every year this is the case. But usually the team that hosts the final is usually the last place team, usually the eighth seed. Right. So. And then they will get the last game on the docket. Final game of the day, first round. And if I'm the first seed. That's kind of scary. It's like, I worked hard all season just to face a whole team hold.
[00:42:34] Speaker A: It's either going to be a buzz leader or you're going to win by 40. And there's no in between.
[00:42:38] Speaker B: There's no in. And they likely. If I'm teams like Lavelle, I'm not worried about the season. I'm trying new things. Like, like Dave was also saying this podcast, I'm not really worried about the regular season because I already have an automatic bid because I'm hosting.
[00:42:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:51] Speaker B: So bring more incentive towards, like, the number one seed. You know what I'm saying? Like, to have that opportunity where it's like, you know what now?
I don't know. But also, like, any suggestions you have just in terms of, like, switching up, because I also hate the three days back to back.
[00:43:08] Speaker A: Three games in three days.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: That's insane. That's insane. There used to be a space, like,
[00:43:12] Speaker A: these dudes are running on fumes. At one point, Yannis Malanda of Bishops, who's like their second leading scorer, incredible defender.
He is just at the point of utter exhaustion in the third quarter of the national championship game.
So we talk about improving the product.
The gold medal game, the national championship game is your showcase moment for your entire sport for the year.
And we're asking dudes to go play three games and three. Three games like Bishop's played Friday night at eight, Saturday at eight, Sunday at. Or Saturday at seven, Sunday at five. What's left in the tank?
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Nothing.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: What are you doing?
[00:43:56] Speaker B: Nothing.
[00:43:57] Speaker A: And I'm pretty confident it's going to be the same thing in Halifax next year, because it's men and women and
[00:44:03] Speaker B: it saves cost, saves money.
Right. The extra day is like, oh, we got a hotel wise, you know, keep a team in there. Like, it's not.
That's why I'm, like, trying to figure out, how do we fix a lot of these stuff? But then I'm like, who can fix it? Right.
[00:44:20] Speaker A: But here's the thing.
I bet if you talk to a lot of the administrators, they don't think it's broken.
They don't think it needs fixing. 80s ADS staff, tournament organizers, national governing body conferences.
[00:44:39] Speaker B: Isn't that kind of sad, though?
[00:44:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:43] Speaker B: Because the people that are living it, that are experiencing it, the players, the coaches will all tell you, like, of
[00:44:49] Speaker A: course this is hell. This is hell.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: And it's not good for the product.
[00:44:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
I just want to know, like, what's the.
What's the solution to all this, right? Because like we're talking about like a lot of.
[00:45:00] Speaker A: But it's not. You can't hit an eight run home run.
You can't swing and do the branding, the broadcast, the media, the promotion, the tournament itself, the competition, the how many days rest.
It's not, it's got to be peace by piece by piece.
First thing we do, we remove consolation.
[00:45:25] Speaker B: That's the first
[00:45:27] Speaker A: second thing we do. In doing so, we make it three games in four days, which is still tough, but at least it's doable.
You play Thursday, Friday's a shoot, practice, whatever recovery day than Saturday, Sunday.
That's doable.
It's going to be a real, like I don't think it's going to happen next year because next year the men and women are in Halifax in one venue. Like they're going to ask these teams to go practice at a university gym and then come to the Scotiabank Arena Metro Center.
In an arena where the sight lines are going to be altogether different and we have to stop thinking about things as just costs.
I basically spent the last 16 years of my life up in the air and out of a suitcase in hotel rooms. I now travel. The travel game goes. So when I first started talking to these to the University of Calgary and U Sports about going to broadcast the final eight, I got a refundable flight for $675. Toronto, Calgary, refundable. I could have canceled it the day before morning of no problem.
There were teams booking flights like 72 hours before.
I'm like what are you guys doing? Oh yeah, it's like 2,200 bucks to get a roundtrip ticket. I'm like, but like you were dominating your conference all year. Why wouldn't you just do this?
And then you could have brought more people. You could have like it's just like just small little things that nobody really thinks about.
And also like do we want to treat our national championships like they're elite level? Like we ask what of our student athletes, Figure things out, deal with adversity, overcome issues and then what are we doing to return the favor?
So yeah.
[00:47:37] Speaker B: Final question before we leave this topic on you sports. I feel like it was a nice conversation that we had. Do you feel like we're in a good place? Just like wrapping up from the esports finale basketball tournament. Do you feel like you sports basketball is where you're like you left the tournament. You're like wow, I'm happy with where it is.
[00:47:57] Speaker A: I was so happy with the level of basketball the competition the games were great.
Here's what's coming.
We're going to start losing all the top players, like all of them.
Laval's got a stud national rookie of the year, all Canadian. He's gone. Gone.
Melanda from Bishops, I just talked about him. Second leading scorer, sophomore gone.
Now there might be a cascade and a ricochet, but there are.
What's going to happen, and this is just commerce, is that U Sports is going to be the training ground and development ground for NCAA sport, not just basketball.
I was told defensive player in youth sports football just got $200,000 US to go to Colorado State next year.
[00:48:59] Speaker B: How do you say no to that?
[00:49:00] Speaker A: The coach told them go, yeah, go. And that just for one year. Who knows, if you play well, man, maybe they'll give you more. Or you go into the portal and somebody else will give you even more.
[00:49:12] Speaker B: It'll be malpractice if I told you not to go.
[00:49:14] Speaker A: Correct. So I do. I think the youth sport basketball scene is very solid. Yes.
Are the athletes top shelf? Without a doubt. Is the competition at an incredibly high level? Yes, indeed.
Do we know what's ahead? We really don't. But I think there's a lot of.
There's a lot of conferences in post secondary athletics on both sides of the border that would say the same.
[00:49:40] Speaker B: Arash, let's take a quick break. And I feel like that was a fun discussion, you Sports Final 8. And yeah, I don't know, the last time I went was, I think the women's was playing. Actually both the men's and the women's were playing. Carlton. I don't think TMU men's made it, but it might have been like 2020 right before COVID Literally right before COVID And that was my last memory. And that venue was cool. I think Ottawa was hosting, I believe. But yeah, just want to.
I covered it. You covered it.
I think we both have an attachment.
[00:50:10] Speaker A: Oh, big time.
I loved it, man.
[00:50:12] Speaker B: Youth sports and just like in general. So we, we kind of want to keep it alive. So if anybody youth sports wants to come on this podcast, give your thoughts, give your.
[00:50:22] Speaker A: But I would, I would go to the schools first and say, what is your strategy to build up your stars?
What is your strategy to sell tickets? What is your strategy to make this more appealing? What is your strategy to increase revenue from a ticket selling standpoint like that?
What is the pop. What is the population in a 12 block radius of TMU's basketball facility? What is that population?
It is probably bigger than most youth sports like where other schools, towns are.
What are you doing outside of that building to make stars, to generate attention?
It's easy to just say, oh, you Sports. Hey, the NBA's got to do this. Okay, well, the NBA is not responsible for selling tickets in Salt Lake City.
The NBA is not responsible for turning whomever into a star at some point.
[00:51:35] Speaker B: It's the programs you think it's athletic directors.
[00:51:38] Speaker A: Well, it's everybody. It's everybody. Like, what's the plan? What's the vision?
And I'd love to know some of the answers to those questions.
[00:51:49] Speaker B: We'll try and find out.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Yes, sir.
[00:51:51] Speaker B: Arash, take a quick break, and then we'll talk about the Canadian Senior Women's national team and the men's national team outlook.
[00:51:57] Speaker A: Let's do it.
[00:52:07] Speaker B: Back to the Canadian Basketball Show. I'm joined by Rash, and we're. We're talking about the Canadian senior Women's national team and the men's team. The senior women's team was just in Turkey and failed to qualify for the FIBA World cup for the first time since O2, which is kind of crazy. It follows after they just went winless at the Paris Olympics.
Arash, I've seen some people try to justify a bit of, like, why a ton of players, obviously, in college. March Madness, Silas Swords, Studs coming up.
But are you worried when it comes to the senior Women's national Team? Because I look at this as a big failure.
24 years since they didn't qualify.
I'm just wondering, like, how worried should people be about the program?
[00:53:05] Speaker A: Let me answer your question by asking you a question.
When was your last success?
[00:53:10] Speaker B: That's a good question.
1984, when they finished fourth place, I'd say 2012.
[00:53:16] Speaker A: By qualifying last minute, they get into London. It was a great celebration.
The program finally did it. They're going to London. Felt like house money.
Okay, great.
And then Rio, bad.
Then Tokyo, arguably worse.
Lead up to Paris.
Hey, probably didn't even earn their way into qualification. It was the ultimate back in.
[00:53:48] Speaker B: Yeah, shouldn't have gotten in Paris.
[00:53:54] Speaker A: Now this.
And then you think about it and you're like, okay, well, the coach they had in 12 wasn't there in 16.
The coach they had in Paris wasn't the coach of 16 and 21. The coach they have now wasn't the coach in Paris.
So they've tried a whole bunch of coaches.
They've tried changing a bunch of things up. Like, I don't know if something's, like, rotten in the water. I.
I don't Know, hopefully Silas Swords. Hopefully, you know, like, I know Aaliyah just played. Like, I, I, I, I find it baffling. Yeah, they probably took too many vets to Paris, but these are all, like, micro things.
Like, 2012 was a long time ago in, you know, international basketball.
[00:54:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Does this hurt? Sponsorships? What do you think about it? Because I got a text from somebody saying, this is not good in terms of, like, people wanting to invest in the program. But then I look at, like, hey, if I'm Canada basketball, if I'm Michael Barley, I'm like, hey, if you want to invest in Shea, you gotta also invest in the woman's side too. Like, does that hurt sponsorships, when you're looking at it, like, no. No, you want to get behind.
[00:55:09] Speaker A: No. Like, so, like, kind of with our youth sports conversation, I've.
There is so little money in the Canadian sports sponsorship ecosystem outside of Hockey Canada, it would blow you away.
There is not a partner, potential partner, watching what's happening in Turkey. There is not a potential partner saying, well, if you get to the World cup, we're in, but if you're not, you're not. Like, we exist here in a basketball where we're, like, following it, etc.
The metrics, the priorities are not at all what we would think for them to be.
So, no, the answer to that question is no. I mean, it doesn't help. But that's. It's not a make or break based on what happened last week.
[00:56:08] Speaker B: Because that makes me wonder, because I'm like, hey, what's the selling point? If you're saying there's no money, like, there's not much money there. But then wouldn't you want to get, like, behind a Shay, like a Jamal Murray, all these players? That's like, I want to invest in this program because of, like, what's going on and the chance at them winning on the big stage and having that moment. Like, do you think that, like, obviously there's, you're saying there's not much money in.
[00:56:31] Speaker A: But what's the stage? Because if the stage is the Olympics, you're not invested in it. You have to be a CoC and an IOC sponsor.
So the stage that you could be is just the World cup.
And, like, one of the most enjoyable moments of my times, of my career. Not moments. We're spending a month with those guys in Jakarta and Manila at the World cup in 23. It was a ball, it was a blast.
Games tipping off at 4 or 5 in the morning Eastern time.
It drew a basketball Audience. It drew a bit of a ripple.
And then, look, they have corporate partners, and we need corporate Canada to invest in our national teams. I'm not saying that what you're investing in is what you can turn this partnership into for a whole bunch of different marketing and metrics and whatever.
And, yeah, Shea's gonna wear your chair's gonna wear a national team jersey in a non Olympic situation with your logo on it.
Great.
I don't know how much that's going to affect it, but what you can do with the partnership is a lot bigger than. Than that.
[00:57:50] Speaker B: Last question before we move off the senior women's national team, I kind of look at it, like, could be wrong. I feel like they're going through sort of like a identity crisis. Okay. Where it's like they have these vets, right? These long established players, and then there's this next wave of talent coming up. Right. And it's sad. I see people saying, oh, they didn't have the college players playing. Right. No other country did, too.
[00:58:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:58:13] Speaker B: So it's like, you can't even, like, get mad at that. And I know Canada's top talent in college is probably better than a lot of these other countries. There is this next wave of talent coming up, and there's these vets.
How do you pass on the baton?
And then also, how do you. Also.
[00:58:31] Speaker A: I don't think you want to.
[00:58:32] Speaker B: You don't want.
[00:58:33] Speaker A: I think you are. You want a brand new baton.
[00:58:35] Speaker B: You want.
[00:58:36] Speaker A: We want nothing to do with what's been going on here for a little while.
[00:58:39] Speaker B: But then also, you think about. Is the rest of the world catching up. How much of that is a factor, too?
[00:58:45] Speaker A: I mean, I don't know what catching up means when we're pretty unaccomplished.
I don't know, man. Like, I don't know if we're overvaluing our players.
I don't know if we're just not as good as we think we are.
After a while, it sort of seems like it's adding up this way. Yeah, we don't have a lot of time for the players to be together and develop chemistry. Yeah. But a lot of other countries don't have that, too.
At some point, they just got to do it and they just haven't.
So, like, a lot of this stuff is like window dressing, et cetera. But, like, man, one of my favorite lines in all of sports. Remember Josh Donaldson 10 years ago, MVP with the Jays?
What was his line?
It's not the try hard league, man. It's the get it done league.
At some time, at some point here, it's gotta be the get it done league.
[00:59:39] Speaker B: On the men's side, you talked about you covered the team closely.
What was that like, getting the assignment to go cover FIBA World cup, the best being in Manila. What was that phone call like? Like, hey, Arash, we're setting you out.
[00:59:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it was. It was great.
How is all this gonna work?
And they had. They had their training camp at hotel, like right by Hotel X at the Raptors facility. Like, everybody was there.
And then we had like a full, like, car wash day. Everybody came through, got to meet the guys.
And man, the dude that I was just like, I remember leaving that day thinking to myself, like, shay's Shay.
[01:00:22] Speaker B: Yeah, Best in the world. Yeah.
[01:00:25] Speaker A: You know what? She can with Shay. Thinking to myself, X factor on this team is going to be Dylan Brooks.
And man, he was.
[01:00:37] Speaker B: He.
[01:00:37] Speaker A: It. Like, to me, he's like, shay's the best player, but the most important. And he's the most. Shay's the best player and the most impactful player and. But the most important dude on that roster was Dylan. They're playing France, first game. I'll never forget this. So, like, think, first of all, you get the assignment right, and then you get your broadcast position.
Broadcast position where the hoop is along the baseline, between the hoop and the Canadian bench.
[01:01:11] Speaker B: Like,
[01:01:13] Speaker A: I don't even know where Dylan would be. Dylan. I was closer to Dylan than that door.
So. So here we are in the corner, three point line, and it's like late third quarter, and Batum's just kind of leaned over, grabbing the bottom of his shorts. And Dylan was grabbing a breather.
He just leans over and I'm just staring right at it. He's like, you're old, you're weak, you're nothing. I'm like, oh. And Batum turns around, sees it's Dylan.
And Dylan looks him right in the eye. You're old, you're weak, you're nothing. And he's just taller himself off, didn't raise his voice, just said it.
And Batum just turned around and he took it.
And Canada ends up winning by whatever it was. 25 or 30. That was the game, you know, what are they gonna have for Gobert? Blah, blah, blah.
And Brook saw me watching the whole thing, just gave me a little wink and I'm like, oh, shit, it's on. And it was on, man. And in the bronze medal game, he was something.
But that. That run was spectacular. And there's just no words. Words do not do justice to Shay Gilgeous Alexander. Like he.
He's the Roger Federer of basketball.
The man does not sweat.
The man does not.
His feet do not hit the floor. He just glides and he just, you know, wipes his brow and hits every big shot and it's no big deal. Just like Fed used to do.
[01:02:48] Speaker B: What's your expectations for the program looking ahead? They're all but secured a spot for round two of qualifications for the World Cup. Yeah, I think they just got to win like one more game and they'll be playing in Hamilton, Puerto Rico, Jamaica. I believe those two games back to back. But what are your expectations when it comes, like, potentially obviously very close to qualifying for the World cup in Qatar next year?
[01:03:13] Speaker A: I'm just going to fast forward. Pass. I'm going to rewind and then I'm going to fast forward.
So I walked into La Defense arena covering Paris 20, 24, 90 minutes before tip, and I'm like, oh, because here we are, the summer after. You're old, you're weak, you're nothing.
And it's the Olympics and it's in Paris and it's Canada versus France and it's shaking this like we're not in Kansas anymore. And then I'm just like, it's, you know, you're there 90 minutes, you're watching warm ups and everything's fine. It's just the crowd. Alley blue, alley blue and eight just was unrelenting.
And I'm saying to myself, man, these guys have played in NBA playoff games and finals and game sevens and the NCAA tournament.
This is different, this is different.
And then the game starts and it's just this avalanche.
And at one point late in the first quarter, Shay pulls up left elbow, knocks down the bucket, and then he clasps his hands like in prayer. Looking up the roof of the arena, I'm like, oh, oh, this isn't good. Now look, if it's a best of three, if it's a best of five, if it's a best of seven, I'd say Canada. Canada wins. Yeah, but it's not the one.
[01:04:40] Speaker B: And done.
[01:04:42] Speaker A: So having said that, all the talk about experience, having been there before, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I think they're going to be fine on the road to the World Cup. I think they're going to be fine in the World cup and I think they're going to be fine in la.
I really do.
But they need to put together a team that meshes a group of dudes who come together.
This is not a fantasy Basketball lineup.
This has got to be a group that really cares, that's fully invested from the jump like they were in 23.
No passengers, no egos. Like they were in 23. Because it was a totally different feel in 24.
You know, like Melvin Edgem kept that group together in 23. Like he was.
It was old man Mel and what he said went.
Nobody cared about theirs. Nobody cared about who was getting whatever playing time, whatever points. It didn't matter. It was about playing for the country and that's. That's the necessity for la. That's got to be sorted.
[01:05:53] Speaker B: I want to go quickly through some questions for you.
[01:05:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:05:56] Speaker B: Kind of rapid fire.
You talked about it.
They got to get back to that 20, 23 identity. How many players are you bringing back from that last Olympic run? I'll name you the players and give me a number. How many you would bring back. Nikhil Alexander.
[01:06:11] Speaker A: Walker. Yes.
[01:06:12] Speaker B: R.J. barrett.
[01:06:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:06:13] Speaker B: Ken Burch. Dylan Brooks.
[01:06:16] Speaker A: Yes. Definitely.
[01:06:18] Speaker B: Lou Dort.
[01:06:20] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:06:21] Speaker B: Melvin Edgem.
[01:06:23] Speaker A: I love Mel, but he's probably better in a golf shirt. By 28.
[01:06:26] Speaker B: Shea Gild, Alexander.
[01:06:28] Speaker A: I think he might have a future in this game. Yeah. Yeah. Guys, do you think SGA is going to be on the team? Yeah, I think he.
[01:06:34] Speaker B: Trey, Laos, Andrew Nehard.
I don't know, really.
[01:06:40] Speaker A: I mean, we'll see.
[01:06:42] Speaker B: Kelly Lunick.
[01:06:45] Speaker A: I mean, so much of that's going to depend on Edie. So much of that's going to depend on the size, the wipeout.
See where Dwight is at that point.
[01:06:54] Speaker B: Last one, Jamal Murray.
[01:06:56] Speaker A: I think that. I think that this federation, this coaching staff, needs to sit down with Jamal and have a real conversation about what his total true commitment is to wanting to do this.
And then I would suggest after that, bring Shay into the room and continue that conversation and then just see where things are.
[01:07:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I wonder what their relationship is like.
[01:07:26] Speaker A: It's not just those two. Shay's not talking about me and Jamal. Shay's talking about we and Jamal.
[01:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah. Because I don't know if it was asthma. It's just about, like, how they would coexist at times. But I felt like it was very vague when whatever. They spoke to reporters about how that partnership would work. Because I think one time, Shane, it was kind of funny when he said it was like, I pass, he shoots type of thing. But I was like, much. There wasn't much details into how that would coexist. I wonder how. How it'll work.
Is there an NBA player that you've been hearing fans clamoring for that you wouldn't want in this run, or that you're like, hey, I don't know about this guy. Or there's this young player talent that you really like that you're like, this needs to be in the mix. I think Zach Eady's obviously the big need, but is there anybody that you're like, I love, or I'm kind of
[01:08:16] Speaker A: iffy on not yet. Like, it's just so soon.
Where is everybody going to be?
March of 28, spring of 28, and then ultimately, like, May of 28 when they get going.
Injuries, we can. We could talk pie in the sky forever, but it's just a matter of what it's going to be.
[01:08:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Not much word from new head coach Cody Herbert still.
Obviously, I think he was at Bayern Munich. Parted ways there.
Expected, I'm guessing, to make a global.
Global local reveal probably this summer when. When cannabis will play some games here.
Is that an issue for you? I don't know, because I've been wondering. I'm like, where's Gordy? I haven't heard him much. No, no.
What are your thoughts on that?
[01:09:11] Speaker A: No, just like, head coaches of national teams are.
They're hired guns, man.
Like, Steve Kerr is the coach of the US Of USA Basketball, and, like, officially, he can't even talk to these guys all year because then it's tampering.
So, no, I have no issue with that.
[01:09:38] Speaker B: Is there a dream lineup that you have that you want to see start at five at the Olympics, L.A.
bright lights. This is your five that you want to see on the floor. This is without. Obviously, some guys might back out, contract situations, injuries, forget all that. What's your five?
Point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center. What's your five?
[01:10:04] Speaker A: I won't give you my starting five. I'll give you my all. A rash five. Okay. From. From this. From this group right now, in order.
[01:10:12] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:10:14] Speaker A: I'm gonna put Shay five just because it's just e. Like, I'm not putting him one because everybody puts so five.
[01:10:19] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:10:19] Speaker A: All right. I'm still skeptical about his abilities. You know, he's right on the bubble of making. Making my roster.
[01:10:25] Speaker B: Yeah,
[01:10:29] Speaker A: Dylan.
[01:10:30] Speaker B: Okay, that's two.
[01:10:31] Speaker A: Dort.
Like, Dort, to me, is a must.
[01:10:35] Speaker B: Yep. Has to.
[01:10:36] Speaker A: He is. He is glue guy. He is everything guy.
Like rj.
And then where's the size coming from? Yeah. So I guess it's Edie.
[01:10:51] Speaker B: Has to be Edie. You know, I'm a bit concerned about that. Right. Because he's dealing with injuries A lot of people are just like, what's gonna happen with that? But you covered, obviously talked about the World Cup, Olympics, but there wasn't much media outside. I feel like you and some others maybe that were there.
[01:11:09] Speaker A: Alex Adams came over. He was doing some work with Raptors Republic.
[01:11:12] Speaker B: What are your thoughts on that? Like, just the state of media, sports media, where no one's like, I don't think companies can't afford to send people out there.
[01:11:23] Speaker A: Just choices.
So.
[01:11:28] Speaker B: And what does it mean? Who's on the road?
[01:11:30] Speaker A: Who's on the road with the Leafs these days?
[01:11:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:11:33] Speaker A: You know what I mean? Like, it. It's just all change. It's all different.
It's not about what's the event that matters. Like, I spent when I got the call to go to the World cup, it was amazing sports and had the rights. Well, now the sport.
Now the rights have moved over to tsn. I'm presuming TSN will have coverage on site and Sportsnet won't. That's just kind of how it is.
I'm assuming. Our friend Doug Smith just wrote about it off tube, you know, watched it on tv, took some of the sound clips that we got. And when TSN gets it, what they get, get some of the press conference footage.
It's a sad state of affairs everywhere, man.
[01:12:18] Speaker B: It is. Because then I'm thinking, like, you got insight that you can't get sitting at home listening to Oppressor talked about the Dylan Brooks story.
[01:12:27] Speaker A: Oh, man. You know what I'm saying?
And. And this is the other thing. Like, this is like, some of the inside baseball stuff is you go to practice on the off days. I get Jordy to myself. Jordy Fernandez, the coach.
I get Jordy to myself for like 10 minutes. And he gave me some good stuff, some good insights. Like some of the U sports stuff we talked about that I could use. And then I'd feed that to Schulman and to Alvin and to the studio crew, whoever it was, Danielle Grange and maybe somebody else, so that everyone's on the same page. So you get like, hey, this is what I saw at practice. This is what so and so said. After practice, I left the gym talking with Nikhil about whatever, you know, Nikhil missed a bunch of shots.
And then pre game, you know, whatever. 90 minutes before tip, I get another 10 minutes with Jordy. And he'd take me through, like, this is the matchups. This is what we're thinking. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So suddenly the show we're putting together, the insights the information, me sitting there. Okay, it's great that.
It's great that I saw that moment with Dylan. But then the way they wanted to handle Doncic, the Slovenia game was huge.
And how they wanted to handle Luca, like, I'm watching it unfold, and then at halftime, I'm explaining it live.
So those are the things. Like, I think everybody now, but people don't.
Decision makers don't care about these things the way they used to. Decision makers don't care about.
They care about the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and what it reads, the value you get of being on site. There's nothing like it.
[01:14:07] Speaker B: Valuable.
[01:14:08] Speaker A: But.
But the bean counters have taken over.
[01:14:13] Speaker B: Last question before I let you go. Kind of touching on that, too.
[01:14:17] Speaker A: That's just not a TV thing, man. That's all. That's all over. That's.
And remove sports, like, just everything.
[01:14:23] Speaker B: Yep, yep. Washington Post laid off how many people?
[01:14:27] Speaker A: Right.
[01:14:28] Speaker B: But we have Team U students here about to graduate.
Hopeful, right? Like, we're talking about a state of sports media, kind of sad, kind of dim.
But what is there to be hopeful about?
Is there something to be hopeful about? Like, what's. What's your advice to them?
[01:14:49] Speaker A: Well, the first piece of advice is go be a plumber.
[01:14:53] Speaker B: That's what I'm. My dad still trying to get me to law school. Still.
[01:14:55] Speaker A: There you go.
[01:14:56] Speaker B: Still.
[01:14:57] Speaker A: I mean that sincerely from the bottom of my heart.
The second thing is there are fewer spots on the rosters than ever before, but everybody still needs a quarterback.
So just go out there and try and be Patrick Mahomes.
The third thing is that there's still a lot that you can create for yourself, and that's a grind. And I'm in the middle of my grind right now, but if you like it enough, want it enough, et cetera, et cetera, pursue it.
And also, whatever it is we're doing now is not going to be relevant or existing in 5 or 10 years.
Always be willing to reinvent yourself. Always be looking to reinvent yourself.
Don't just say, well, I just do this.
Now you got to do everything. And especially editing.
Right now, editing is the name of the game. So the more you're on top of
[01:16:03] Speaker B: that,
[01:16:05] Speaker A: but stick to all the things that you're learning on the foundational side of editing. How to tell a. Storytelling matters, objectivity matters, fairness matters, facts matter. All those things. Those are all legit through and through.
[01:16:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Wise words from.
[01:16:23] Speaker A: And also, when you become my boss one day, don't fire my ass. That's. That's the other thing I ask. Yeah, that's. That's the most important thing.
[01:16:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Wise words from Arash Madani.
[01:16:32] Speaker A: There you go.
[01:16:33] Speaker B: Can't thank you enough for coming on the podcast. I'm sorry about the Bishops.
[01:16:36] Speaker A: Oh, man.
[01:16:37] Speaker B: Not winning at all.
Don't worry. Maybe one day.
[01:16:41] Speaker A: Oh, man, I was there. And I was there as a first year student 28 years ago. Yeah. And then, like, what are the odds you get to a final eight and your school is there again? They hadn't won a game in 28 years in Nationals.
[01:16:54] Speaker B: Insane.
[01:16:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:16:55] Speaker B: Arash, again, can't thank you enough. Appreciate you joining us in the studio.
[01:16:59] Speaker A: Appreciate you, brother.
[01:16:59] Speaker B: This has been the Canadian Basketball show, your go to spot for the latest news stories and analysis on Canadian basketball with a rash. And we out.
