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Episode 23: World Cup Kickoff, Dylan Larkin Demands Trade & College Football’s Gambling Nightmare
17 Plays29 days ago
The 2026 World Cup is here. This week, Leo and Lando preview Canada's highly anticipated opening match in Toronto and look at the team's depth. Plus, they dive into massive NHL shockers—including Dylan Larkin reportedly wanting out of Detroit—and tackle the big college football gambling court case that is changing the game forever.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Lando
There we go.
Introduction of Co-hosts
00:00:19
Leo Ernewein
Hello, hello. Welcome back to the Leo and Lando show. your co-host Leo Ernawein and with always is me, my other co-host Lando. Introduce yourself here brother.
00:00:30
Lando
What's up, guys? It's Landon Lando-Semenuk. How's everybody doing?
00:00:34
Leo Ernewein
Thanks for tuning in everyone. have a massive show lined up for you
Overview of FIFA World Cup 2026
00:00:37
Leo Ernewein
today. We're leading off with probably the biggest sporting event on the planet, the FIFA World Cup kicking off tomorrow, 2026 edition.
00:00:46
Leo Ernewein
It's the largest tournament we've ever seen, too, with 48 teams compared to the usual 32. 104 matches spread across three different countries, Canada, U.S., and Mexico.
00:00:56
Leo Ernewein
Canada opens their tournament on Friday in Toronto against Bosnia, Herzegovina. And Alphonso Davies probably playing left back and Moyes-Bombito center back dealing with some injuries.
00:01:08
Leo Ernewein
So the pressure will be on for at least that opening game. The consensus is anything making less than the round of 32 or the group stage is probably considered a failure on home soil.
00:01:21
Leo Ernewein
At least that's what I'm
Canada's World Cup Prospects
00:01:22
Leo Ernewein
gathering. Do you think Jesse Marsh, the head coach, his squad has the depth to handle the pressure on the first game there? Canadian fans setting themselves up for heartbreak.
00:01:32
Leo Ernewein
Landon.
00:01:33
Lando
Well, I really hope that they aren't set up for heartbreak because according to a lot of the analysts who cover the team, they said this has been the most depth that Canada's had ever on the men's side. So with that being said, think the pressure is always anytime Canadian team goes into any sport that we want them to do well. But I don't think there's going be too much heartbreak because I think where Canada is set up in their pool with Switzerland, Qatar, and Bosnia, I think of all the pools that I've looked so far that I think Canada has one of the easier ones as far as
00:02:11
Lando
you know, where their pool is. Yeah, I think Canada's going to do just fine.
00:02:14
Leo Ernewein
Thank you.
00:02:17
Lando
I think they're going to surprise a lot of people and they've had a good soccer year. They've played matches in front of Canadian fans all year. Although, you know, the stakes are a little bit higher than what they've played the past, but I'm not worried about them whatsoever. I think that this will be a real good test for them and I think it'll show...
00:02:37
Lando
the world
Depth of Canada's Squad
00:02:38
Lando
that Canada is a soccer nation just as much as, know, hockey and curling.
00:02:44
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, no, I think you're right, man. I'm glad that you mentioned the depth because they do have far more depth than they're used to in positions like right back with Alistair Johnson and stuff like that or in the middle with Captain Stephan Estacchio, Ismail Kone, and of course Jonathan David pulling the strings up front, Kyle Lahren.
00:03:06
Leo Ernewein
You know, those guys experience strikers and stuff like that, right? So that helps too. It's not just one superstar pulling the strings, and obviously he won't be there the first game. But we've seen how Canada plays with the Odafons of Davies, and they play pretty well without him. So I think they'll be okay for the first game. They do have kind of a tough group stage. It's Bosnia-Herzegovina.
00:03:29
Leo Ernewein
I think who else is playing in their group stage? Group B...
00:03:33
Lando
Switzerland and Qatar.
00:03:35
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, yeah, Qatar, yeah, and Switzerland. Switzerland, I think, will be the toughest test on Wednesday, the 24th.
00:03:39
Lando
Yes, I agree.
00:03:43
Leo Ernewein
The 18th, they'll play Qatar. Switzerland, that European squad, though, they got some good players like...
00:03:50
Lando
Yeah, yeah. No, I, like I said, I think as far as, you know, the pool goes of all the ones that have been, you know, put together, think they're the ones that, I think the group is probably easiest.
00:04:03
Lando
But yeah, Switzerland, I think was ranked, where are they ranked? Top 20, I think, in the world right now. So we'll see. We'll see what shakes. I think that'll be a real test for Canada. That will be Switzerland.
00:04:17
Leo Ernewein
where Switzerland is here in the rankings. Yeah, they're 19th right now. Canada, we are...
00:04:23
Lando
So they are top 20. Yeah.
00:04:25
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, they are top
Morocco as a Dark Horse
00:04:26
Leo Ernewein
20. USA is in number 17. Uruguay, 16...
00:04:31
Leo Ernewein
Italy, who missed the World Cup, is 12th. Brazil, usually a top three. They're number six. That's kind of crazy. Argentina, number one. Spain, second. France, third. England, fourth. Portugal, fifth.
00:04:46
Leo Ernewein
Morocco up there in the top ten. They're at seven. That's kind cool.
00:04:49
Lando
They, you know, you know what, man?
00:04:50
Leo Ernewein
Their last World Cup performance.
00:04:51
Lando
I know.
00:04:52
Leo Ernewein
What's that?
00:04:53
Lando
I was just going to say that, you know, I, I know, I know we're talking about Canada, but I, I, if there's a team in this world cup that I think everybody needs to watch out for, it's Morocco.
00:05:05
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, they're your dark horse.
00:05:07
Lando
They're my dark horse. Yeah.
00:05:11
Leo Ernewein
Norway with Holland is always a dark horse.
00:05:16
Leo Ernewein
Holland, Odegaard, who else do they have? Alexander Sorloss, Antonio Nuss is finally coming into play. Yeah, mean, Norway, to me, seems like a team that could finally take that next step.
00:05:30
Leo Ernewein
We've seen their Olympic prowess, obviously, there, right, Landon? So I'd get Norway a good chance for a dark horse team.
00:05:33
Lando
yeah exactly yeah we yeah
00:05:39
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. trying to think of another team that would have like a Morocco-esque run. like Ecuador a lot, although I still think they're kind of young.
00:05:48
Lando
Yeah.
00:05:50
Leo Ernewein
I mean, William Pacho is a great centre-back, so he's not that young. Piero Hincapie, Piero Hincapie, I think how you say his name, Pervis Estupinian, too. They got a great defensive structure.
00:06:05
Leo Ernewein
And all those guys play on top squads in Europe. Moise Casado, I think he plays for Chelsea. He's a great defensive midfielder. And then they got this youngster, Kendry Pius. think he's like 18 or 19 now. I think he's joined Chelsea.
00:06:21
Leo Ernewein
But for the longest time, he was like this 15, 16-year-old kind of wonder kid playing... over in Ecuador just dominating everyone. And so everybody thought he's going to be really good. And I mean, I don't know how well he's doing this year. I haven't really paid attention, but obviously he'll play for the national team.
00:06:38
Leo Ernewein
And so he'll kind of maybe have some cool moments. Yeah, I'd go with Ecuador or Norway as a couple of dark horses for me there.
00:06:46
Lando
That's it. Those are two really good ones. And then my next dark horse I was just going to say the Netherlands will be another one.
00:06:54
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, the Netherlands I think is due. I think they're due, right? And we've seen them make some runs and get upset by Croatia and stuff like that.
00:07:03
Lando
Mm-hmm.
00:07:03
Leo Ernewein
It was funny. The Netherlands coach, Ronald Koeman, they picked this striker named Velt Wegforst, and he's like 6'7". He scored like a really clutch goal in the last World Cup off like a fake penalty. It was crazy cool to see.
00:07:22
Leo Ernewein
to send the game to extra time versus Croatia. They ended up losing on penalties something like that. But when asked, because he's not doing that well, and when asked, hey, you left off this guy who's probably your best striker.
00:07:38
Leo Ernewein
Now I got to get his name up here. I had his name and it stumped me.
00:07:43
Lando
Oh, I've done that, yeah.
00:07:46
Leo Ernewein
But yeah, they selected Veldvegghorst instead of...
00:07:49
Leo Ernewein
No, Dutch Striker.
00:07:52
Leo Ernewein
Oh my god.
00:07:57
Lando
Oh, Memphis, uh, DePay, that him?
00:08:00
Leo Ernewein
No, not. Well, I mean, Memphis Depay would have been – I think they selected Memphis Depay, actually. Zeon Fleming.
00:08:07
Lando
I,
00:08:07
Leo Ernewein
His name is Zeon Fleming. There you go. He scored 11 Premier League goals for Burnley so far this year.
00:08:12
Lando
right, okay, yeah, I see him, yeah, I see him here.
00:08:14
Leo Ernewein
The season isn't even over. And when a journalist asked Coleman why he picked Vegtorst instead of – who had a tough season with Ajax over a striker with 11 Premier League goals.
00:08:27
Leo Ernewein
The head coach responded with, who? He didn't know who he was.
00:08:29
Lando
Yep.
00:08:32
Leo Ernewein
So that's got to suck for the striker. And it's got to kind of be embarrassing that you can't really keep track of. I don't know, your top goal scorers when you're selecting them for the national team, but that's just my opinion.
00:08:44
Leo Ernewein
Ronald Koeman's also a legendary manager and legendary player too, who scored like a bunch of goals as a defender, which is pretty hard in soccer. But I want to look at the golden boot race here because a lot of people are kind of divided. Some people lock it in on Kylian Mbappe or Harry Kane. Kylian Mbappe, of course, playing for France. Harry Kane for England.
00:09:05
Leo Ernewein
Others think that Lionel Messi still might have a little bit or he might even take a back seat to lead the attack against, you know, or with guys like Julian Alvarez looking to have kind of a monster summer. I think Alvarez just moved clubs to where he's looking to move clubs.
00:09:24
Leo Ernewein
He was at City for a while of, I think he played for River Plate. I can't remember where he played for Argentina, but then he went over to La Liga and played for Atletico Madrid. And now there's talks about him moving to Barcelona or Real Madrid for upwards of a hundred million dollars or 150 million, whatever.
00:09:48
Leo Ernewein
currency you want to use incredible amounts of money for for anyone really but i don't know i to me the leading goal scorer win the tournament with the with the most goals it's hard to bet against in buffet you know what i would love to see holland win it and and for that in order to happen
00:09:55
Lando
Yeah.
00:10:14
Leo Ernewein
You'd either have to have a freak couple group stage games and stuff like that, or Norway actually makes a run and goes on this dark horse stuff. So maybe Erling Holland, I think maybe would win, but Mbappe would be a pretty safe second bet. Do you have any favorites there, Landon?
00:10:32
Lando
Well, like I said, I'm going with Morocco and Netherlands.
00:10:36
Leo Ernewein
Right, but for top goal scorer.
00:10:38
Lando
Oh, top goal scorer.
00:10:40
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:10:42
Lando
I think Harry Kane. I don't know much of the names in soccer, so don't know
00:10:50
Leo Ernewein
Harry Kane's good show. Yeah.
00:11:01
Lando
That's how our country got started.
00:11:01
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:11:02
Lando
So you kind of have to root for England.
00:11:03
Leo Ernewein
I do have a soft spot for them it comes to international soccer, yeah.
00:11:05
Lando
Yeah, I do too. And them and Scotland. Yeah, exactly. Them and Scotland. Which Scotland's in it this time too for the first time in a long, long time.
00:11:14
Lando
So yeah. Yeah.
00:11:14
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, guys, I think Kieran Tierney made the squad.
00:11:19
Leo Ernewein
Hopefully he's not hurt. Let's go look at the Scotland squad real quick because I want to find out.
00:11:20
Lando
Yeah.
00:11:24
Lando
And then for the first.
00:11:26
Leo Ernewein
playing Haiti, they have Morocco and Brazil. So that is a tough, but Brazil might be in shambles because, I mean, they have Neymar leading the squad, but Brazil's just not the Brazil we're used to.
00:11:29
Lando
Yeah.
00:11:39
Leo Ernewein
I'm almost as scared of Brazil as I am as Morocco, and that's, you know, not a thing we used to say, right?
00:11:39
Lando
No, and that.
00:11:47
Lando
Well, thing, the thing with Brazil and would throw Argentina in this too. What's happened is it's like, they're like Canada in, in, in hockey in South America.
00:12:03
Lando
Eventually, eventually everybody else on your continent is eventually going to catch up to you. You know, you got Columbia, you got Costa Rica,
00:12:14
Lando
You've got Chile. And so when you really think about where Brazil and Argentina are, as far as the South America side of things, yeah, eventually all those countries are going to catch up to you. And yeah, I think what's happened with Brazil too They have, they're kind of in a transition from that old, out with the old, in with the new.
00:12:37
Lando
And I think it's just going to take, just going to probably, would say maybe, maybe next World Cup.
00:12:43
Lando
I think they'll be back more as like, know, of a powerhouse. This year, it might be a transition.
00:12:48
Leo Ernewein
And Brazil doesn't have like their top clubs used to actually have like kind of the money buy people. They still have status right now, but they don't have the money. Whereas like they used to be able to hold on. Like Neymar didn't move out of Brazil till he was 21.
00:13:05
Leo Ernewein
And that's when he moved to Barcelona.
00:13:07
Lando
Right.
00:13:08
Leo Ernewein
And now they're moving at 16 and they're rotting on the bench in places like Real Madrid, although Real Madrid's kind of developed Benicia, so over the couple years Rodrigo's been playing really well. But they bought a guy named Endric who is on the national team.
00:13:26
Leo Ernewein
I don't think he's playing very much for Real Madrid. They bought him at 16 or something like that. He moved over at 18. And pretty much he's like their backup striker, right? Like he doesn't – you don't develop. You don't get that kind of minutes.
00:13:40
Leo Ernewein
And now he's – he was looked at as like the next Pele. Like that's how good he was.
00:13:45
Lando
Right.
00:13:46
Leo Ernewein
He was playing – and he kind of had the – almost the Pele kind of style. Like he has this old school style right now. Yeah, he's 19 now. want to see his stats.
00:13:58
Leo Ernewein
So he went on loan last year because he wasn't getting – He got 21 appearances in 2024 and one goal. So that means he was basically coming on for like five minutes at the end of the game.
00:14:10
Leo Ernewein
And last year he went on loan and made 16 appearances, got five goals. It's a bit of a step, but you know, they paid like 50 mil for this guy. And now he's barely like it's, it's stunting his development for sure.
00:14:26
Leo Ernewein
And they need clubs with money to be able to say, no, we don't want to sell him for 50 mil right away. We're going wait a little bit and let him get up to 100 or something like that.
00:14:37
Leo Ernewein
And actually some crazy stature. But because they're so desperate for money, that club can't afford to turn down that $50 million. They're like, nope, this is the jackpot for us.
00:14:46
Lando
Yeah.
00:14:48
Leo Ernewein
Because it is.
00:14:50
Lando
It
00:14:50
Leo Ernewein
But it's just like it's financial mismanagement is what it comes down to. and corruption. I'm sure there's lots of corruption in Brazilian football.
00:15:01
Lando
In a country like Brazil, it wouldn't surprise me.
00:15:04
Leo Ernewein
Wouldn't surprise you. Let's go to something now that kind of did surprise me though. Pivot over onto the ice.
Dylan Larkin's Departure Concerns
00:15:11
Leo Ernewein
Total shockwave hit in the Atlantic division. Word out of Detroit.
00:15:14
Leo Ernewein
Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin wants out. Rumors suggest he's completely done with the rebuild. I mean, they haven't made the playoffs in like, what was it? 10 years or something like that.
00:15:24
Lando
Yeah.
00:15:24
Leo Ernewein
missing the postseason in nine of his 10 years. That's what it is. On top of that, sources claim he was furious with GM Steve EY, Steve Iserman, stood pat at the trade deadline. He kind of aired him out by saying something like, you know, we were expecting little bit of spark to come from acquisitions at the deadline and we didn't get anything. And I think Steve even answered back, like, I think those sparks are supposed to come out of the dressing room, not from not from management, not from an office or something like, you know, like, so as soon as he said something like that, I think he kind of irked off Steve Eisenman.
00:15:52
Lando
Yeah.
00:15:56
Leo Ernewein
And like, that's not something that captain says to me either, which is just brutal. Landon, if, if Larkin actually forces a trade, you think this breaks the wiser plan or does it give Detroit a chance to like kind of asset manage and accelerate the rebuild with fresh pieces?
00:16:10
Leo Ernewein
Well, like he only wants to trade to like three teams, right? It's like the wild, what is it?
00:16:15
Leo Ernewein
Wild Vegas. Do you know the third team?
00:16:18
Lando
Florida.
00:16:19
Leo Ernewein
Florida, of course. Why not go to Buffalo?
00:16:21
Lando
Of course, there be Florida.
00:16:23
Leo Ernewein
If he wants out, why not go to Buffalo? He'd be awesome in Buffalo.
00:16:28
Lando
Well, apparently, he would be awesome in Buffalo. And apparently Dallas has been asking about him, too. So.
00:16:33
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, but don't... You know, if he already wants to go to Vegas or Minnesota, I don't want to see him go to another Central Division team. Plus, Minnesota has to... Minnesota is almost having the chance to collect captains like Infinity Stones right now, right, with like Quinn Hughes.
00:16:48
Lando
Yeah.
00:16:50
Leo Ernewein
It's just not fair.
00:16:52
Lando
Austin Matthews, potentially.
00:16:53
Leo Ernewein
Austin Matthews might be up there too. Like, you don't know, right? Like, you just don't know, man. But, yeah, I don't know.
00:16:58
Lando
Yeah.
00:17:01
Leo Ernewein
What are your thoughts on Larkin there, bud?
00:17:05
Lando
Well, when I first saw this news breakout, I was actually kind of shocked that he'd actually, this time of the year, would actually... You know, that this would actually he would allow this to leak out instead talking to management and saying, like, look, this is I'm getting very, very frustrated. This is where I'm at with myself.
00:17:28
Lando
I've been thinking about doing this for a while and I would like to keep this quiet, but can you at least look at exploring a trade? Now this looks like you're basically, I look at this as you're basically being a whining baby.
00:17:43
Lando
To me, least that's the way I get That's the feel I get is that you're not happy with what's going on. I mean, I don't blame him for not wanting to win. mean, when you want to win...
00:17:55
Lando
you know, you're there to win and try to win a Stanley Cup. And I get the fact that he's very frustrated about how Detroit's handled this whole rebuild thing. But, you know, I think you sign a long-term contract saying that you're willing to stick this out and now this is becoming a problem. So I don't know. If I'm Steve Eisenman, I would be basically saying we'll see you at training camp.
00:18:16
Lando
That's what I'd be saying to him. We your your list of trade your list of trade destination is is way too hard to do. If you want to if you want trade us to help you with trade, you need to give us a bigger list than that if they're going to trade. But basically, I was Steve Eisenman, I basically tell him to we'll see a training camp.
00:18:37
Lando
That's basically what I would say. What was your reaction?
00:18:40
Leo Ernewein
You'd stand him pat.
00:18:45
Leo Ernewein
You'd stand him pat, eh?
00:18:46
Lando
I would say Adam Pat. I'd say, know, and who knows, maybe.
00:18:49
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I'd say tough, too bad. You give me the list of three teams. I mean, he has a no-movement clause. I get that. And a long contract.
00:18:56
Lando
Yeah.
00:18:58
Leo Ernewein
Too bad. So Sadstrup has signed. It sucks. You're a Michigan man, right? He played hockey in Michigan at the university. He grew up there. Stick it out, man.
00:19:09
Leo Ernewein
Come on, you bum.
00:19:10
Lando
Yeah.
00:19:11
Leo Ernewein
What are you doing?
00:19:11
Lando
Yeah.
00:19:12
Leo Ernewein
Tough times, boo-hoo. Stick it out. Be an example to lead from. Man, I wouldn't want to play for him. I mean, play under him, you know, as a player, as a teammate or something.
00:19:24
Lando
yeah
00:19:25
Leo Ernewein
But, I mean, guess I have to put myself in his shoes, and he's probably done everything he thought he could over those nine out of ten seasons he's been there, right? or 10 seasons that he's been there and thought, you know what?
00:19:36
Leo Ernewein
This is, this is the final straw. Like, you're not the final straw, but what more can I do? just want to go elsewhere. And they were probably, probably asked for a trade a while back. They probably kept it in house. I bet.
00:19:51
Leo Ernewein
No, maybe not. I don't know, man.
00:19:54
Lando
Yeah, you could be on to that, but...
00:19:56
Leo Ernewein
Maybe because this seems like it's almost coming out of nowhere. Does not? Like,
00:20:02
Lando
I thought it came out of nowhere. I mean, I...
00:20:04
Leo Ernewein
This is blowing up. Right.
00:20:05
Lando
Yeah, I thought he...
00:20:06
Leo Ernewein
And it's like, he's pouring fuel on it and you don't just pour fuel on it out of nowhere.
00:20:07
Lando
Yeah. I thought he... ahead.
00:20:14
Leo Ernewein
seems like I thought they would have communicated before maybe behind closed doors and stuff like that, that he will want some changes and stuff like that. And obviously he was, maybe they were trying to make deals at that deadline and the asking price was just too much for what they thought.
00:20:28
Leo Ernewein
And it, and it irked them. Maybe there's a miscommunication. I don't know, man. That's just, it's...
00:20:36
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:37
Lando
And you know what? I was just thinking about this while you were talking about your opinion about what's been going on. You look at what Detroit has done the last 10 years, and I completely get...
00:20:49
Lando
that there's a salary cap and everything. But what Detroit has done, people got to remember too, Detroit had 25 years of playoff success, and they won 30.
00:21:05
Lando
Four? No, four Stanley Cups in that run. And they also made it dozens of conference finals and come close to winning a number of other Cups. So they were always contenders. And when they were constant contenders, they lost a lot of draft picks throughout all those years too to try to make a run for it. And before the first lockout, I mean, they were buying players like you wouldn't believe. So after the new salary cap, they did win a whole bunch towards the end around the 2010 era.
00:21:37
Lando
But after that, it's going to take time for Detroit to rebuild and retool and get assets back. But one thing that I haven't liked what Detroit has done is that They've done kind somewhat a really good job up until about, I would say, about...
00:21:56
Lando
four four years ago and then all of a sudden the owner is getting pressure from the fans well we need to fast track this rebuild so what do they do they go out and get free agents like patrick kane and they get alex to brinkett and and all those guys and it really hasn't materialized into anything it's almost made them i would say almost worse in in a lot of ways even though that they've come close to making the playoffs, but they just, they don't have enough pieces to really make the push. So like, I, I, I think they're trying to fast track the re this rebuild to try to get into the playoffs because they're getting pressure from ownership and the fans, but they just, they're, they're not good enough to do anything right now. And I, and I, again, like I said, with Larkin being,
00:22:41
Lando
you know, complaining about all this stuff. I get it, but you know what? You sign a long-term contract. You want it to be, you want it to be part of the solution and now you're becoming a part of the problem.
00:22:53
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, exactly.
00:22:55
Lando
So.
00:22:55
Leo Ernewein
So it's, yeah, it's almost like it's a catch 22, right?
00:23:03
Lando
It is, it is a total catch 22.
00:23:05
Leo Ernewein
And to me, Iserman can't win this, in this trade market that he gave him. I would stand him put.
00:23:13
Lando
I would stand and put two. I'd say suck it up. We'll see it. We'll see a training camp. I mean, you and I, you and I agree on that one on that one. And, and I've listened to a number of, of, you know, sports talk radio shows over the last few days since this news broke out over the, this last weekend, a lot of the people are saying the same thing. It's like, especially Jeff O'Neill from overdrive. He's just basically said, I, he doesn't understand what, where Larkin's coming from either.
00:23:40
Lando
Like why now?
00:23:40
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:23:41
Lando
Why now? Like, why now? That's what his, that's what he said too. He's like, why now is this now a problem? Yeah, I don't get it.
00:23:48
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, exactly. It just seems like it's coming out of nowhere for me.
00:23:52
Lando
Yeah.
00:23:54
Leo Ernewein
Meanwhile, something I think was kind of obvious for all of us, though, right? Over out west on the Pacific Coast, Vancouver Canucks announced a massive alumni heavy front office overhaul.
00:24:07
Leo Ernewein
Daniel and Henrik Sedin stepping in as co-presidents, their former teammate and former Abbotsford Canucks GM taking over as GM Manny Maholtra moving up from the farm team to become the head coach.
00:24:19
Leo Ernewein
So that's, yeah, Maholtra head coach. Ryan Johnson, GM. And Henrik and Daniel in co-presidents.
00:24:31
Leo Ernewein
NHL teams kind of all the time, though, fail when they hire old fan favorites just for nostalgia. What makes this specific group, do you think, qualified to actually fix the Canucks rather than just being kind of a PR stunt? Or do you think it is?
00:24:45
Lando
I don't think it is a PR stunt. And here's why think it's going make big difference in the Canucks because these four players have really good hearts. They have really good hearts.
00:25:00
Lando
And when these guys left the Canucks through retirement or when Ryan Johnson got traded, they they created a culture at that time of winning and, and, and of excellence, I guess, if you want to call it that. So when, when I heard that these guys were going to take over the team, I was actually like, this is probably the best thing that could happen for Vancouver. Now, does this mean that they're going to make, everything's going be all rosy going forward? No, they're going to have some bumps in the road, but,
00:25:34
Lando
The biggest problem in Vancouver, and we've talked about this a number of times on our show there, Leo, and I know we've talked Kyle Bacni about this a few times, that this been the biggest problem in Vancouver is just the culture from top to bottom has just been non-existent. And it actually really started since Daniel and Hendrick Sedin retired.
00:25:57
Lando
Basically, that they've lost that culture, that buzz that you need create that you need to create in order to have a winning and a successful organization. So. Like I said, Canuck fans, I think, need to be patient too because this isn't going to be fixed overnight. This is going to be, know, there's still going to be some bumps in the road.
00:26:17
Lando
It's not everything going to be rosy. But I think Vancouver as a whole, an organization, they may not make the playoffs next year. But I think as an organization, I think the noise is really going to calm down this year.
00:26:32
Lando
or this upcoming season when the Stanley Cup final is done, that I, yeah, I'm very, I'm happy for Canuck fans because I think this has been a long, long, long time coming that you need people who expect lots, but want to create an atmosphere, a very well-working, or what am I trying to say here? A very well, it's a very well-working relationship.
00:27:00
Lando
Amongst everybody is what I'm trying to say.
00:27:02
Leo Ernewein
I like the hires too. Yeah. I, I, you know, the kind of organizational structure that you want when it comes to like holding people accountable and just being good people around doing good at their job.
00:27:19
Leo Ernewein
It all starts from the top down. Right. And so when you have co-presidents that kind of know what it takes to be Canuck, right. in that sense with Daniel and Henrik, they, they pretty much are the epitome of that, right.
00:27:33
Lando
Yeah.
00:27:34
Leo Ernewein
that.
00:27:36
Leo Ernewein
so yeah, I like that. I like, uh, Manny Malhotra. I hope he drafts his son, Caleb. We'll see how that goes.
00:27:45
Leo Ernewein
Uh, yeah. I mean, an all in due time, right. As, uh, well, we'll be able to tell all in due time, but we should, we should shift over gears to, uh,
00:27:55
Leo Ernewein
to our provincial capital here. Things are getting a little messy out in Edmonton reports circulating the Oilers, looking at Mike Babcock potentially as their head coaching candidate. Also checking in on Bruce Cassidy.
00:28:07
Leo Ernewein
The Babcock rumors are, I don't think they'll get Bruce Cassidy by the way, but had to mention it. The Babcock rumors though, definitely raising some eyebrows, especially given the recent controversial track record and allegations.
00:28:18
Leo Ernewein
think the NHL PA was saying that they would investigate into, allegations on whether he broke player privacy while he was in Columbus. I mean, I think he did that when he was in Toronto with Mitch Marner, but that's just my opinion. But yeah, so that's only if the Oilers go through with the hire that the NHLPA would look into allegations of Babcock breaking privacy
Controversial Coaching Choices for Oilers
00:28:44
Leo Ernewein
agreements or like that. I'm not entirely sure what it would entail, whether it's a fine, whether...
00:28:50
Leo Ernewein
they would block the hire entirely or not. But Edmond, you know, they have two of the best players on their prime on planet earth right now with McDavid and dry saddle. Do you think man, I think, don't know. Do you think management would risk alienating the locker room and triggering kind of a media circus by bringing in a coach with that much baggage? Or do you think McDavid wants him because Babcock is probably only people that can like McDavid. I think he played under him on team Canada and stuff like that.
00:29:22
Leo Ernewein
I think McDavid kind of wants him. What are your thoughts?
00:29:25
Lando
I agree with you. I think McDavid wants him too. But when I first heard this rumor, when I first heard this rumor, I was just like, guys got to be kidding me.
00:29:35
Lando
You guys want more circus on your team with this? You know, and I'm all for people having second chances. I know we've talked about that a number of times with certain individuals throughout our podcast there, Leo, that you and I both agree that second chances for, you know, for jobs are always welcome. Yeah.
00:29:58
Lando
as far as I'm concerned, anyways, and I know you probably will agree with me a little bit on that one. Like, mean, they, they gave Joel Quinville as the NHL gave Joel Quinville a second chance, right. After all this stupidity that he did with Chicago or allow, allow this, you know, was part of the allowing part with the,
00:30:19
Lando
uh what's his i forgot what his name is but anyways we're getting a little i'm getting a little off track but anyways my going back to mike babcock it just they raised me some big eyebrows and i'm just like you know there's been lot of players who have absolutely hated playing under him you know like yoan franson brought was you know talked about my mike babcock with in detroit i know Mitch Marner was talking about how he was in the dark days of his career in Toronto. I don't understand this horror.
00:30:51
Lando
It baffles me. don't get it. And, you know, like, I just, I don't know where, I don't know the direction that Edmonton is actually trying to do or go for. It's just, it seems to be like they're just spinning with no rubber on their tires is basically what I'm trying to explain.
00:31:10
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, it's... I don't know. I think it could be underrated move. I think it could be a move that kind of... Because to me, McDavid is obviously not happy with the standards that Edmonton and the Oilers have been playing at.
00:31:29
Leo Ernewein
And I think that this is sort of kind of a home run swing, if you will. on maybe a really bad pitch because you still might hit it but i don't know if it'll work but if it does it could be the swing that they needed right like the bottom of the ninth kind of i don't know george springer bat flip if you will i don't know i don't think that was in the bottom of the ninth i think was like the seventh or the eighth or the sixth something like that but But yeah, I think it could be, don't know, it's a big risk, big reward is my opinion on that. And I think Babcock could be the right coach if the players bought in for another Stanley Cup window for the Oilers.
00:32:17
Leo Ernewein
If the players bought in, they have to fix that defense though. That defense is atrocious because obviously goaltending wasn't the issue. I mean, it's obviously an issue now more than it has been, especially with acquiring Jari. But whoever else you bring in ahead of Jari is just going to suck almost as bad or just as bad because that defense is atrocious.
00:32:40
Leo Ernewein
And that's coming from a Leafs fan who has atrocious defense and a Saints fan who has been known to have atrocious defense in the past. I mean, sometimes it's been better in recent years, but...
00:32:51
Leo Ernewein
Maybe they just need to hire a Rex, not a Rex Ryan. What's his name? The guy who did the bounty gate for the Saints. Get the bounty program going.
00:33:02
Leo Ernewein
It wasn't Sean Payton. He was the head coach. It was the defensive coordinator, Saints D coordinator, bounty gates. Let's find out.
00:33:10
Lando
I think I know where you're going with this, though, yeah.
00:33:14
Leo Ernewein
It was Greg Williams was his name. There we go. Known for Bounty Gate. Not a great person, apparently. But we'll jump over here.
00:33:26
Leo Ernewein
because I kind of want to mention these things too. few major executive chess moves fly kind of slightly under the radar in the NHL. Former Avalanche GM Chris McFarland taking over in Nashville.
00:33:38
Leo Ernewein
Rob Blake joining him as the president's president there. So replacing Chris McFarlane as GM is Joe Sackick, who's absorbing the GM role and still staying president. So he's been the, he was the GM previously then kind of stepped into president head coach, head coach, Jared Bednar remains behind the bench. Of course, we talked about that in the past episode, how we thought, is he on the hot seat? It looks like he's going to be sticking around. So Landon is a diehard abs fan, you know, you know how Sackick kind of operates, right? Like,
00:34:11
Leo Ernewein
on taking both sides of massive front office roles. Does that affect Bednar's job security if the team hits a rough patch next season? Do you think Bednar's gone then? Do you think he's still on the hot seat?
00:34:25
Lando
I don't think he's ever been on the hot seat. I know.
00:34:28
Leo Ernewein
No?
00:34:29
Lando
No, I don't think he's ever been on the hot seat. Like the only time that I could see him being on the hot seat is They start off really poorly, really, really poorly this year.
00:34:41
Lando
Then I can see him being on the hot seat. But the thing is, I listened to an interview that Nathan McKinnon was on just recently.
00:34:52
Lando
And I forget what the show was called. But anyways, he was talking about... They had him... They were talking about... or sorry, he was talking about how, or they asked him the questions about how do you like playing for Jared Bendor? Do you want a new coach? Or things like that. And Nathan McKinnon basically came out and said, I wouldn't want to play for any other coach than Jared Bendor. And that's saying a lot for a guy who Both seem to butt heads at times because they both want to win. But I don't think Jared Bendar is ever going to be on the hot seat unless, like I said, they have a really poor start at the beginning the year. But, I mean, the guy won a President's Trophy.
00:35:33
Lando
You know, they broke a number of records this year. There's a lot of players who broke another record. number of records too, you know, with goals, assists, you know, and, and, you know, the other thing too is, is I think,
00:35:48
Lando
he had a full year with his captain being back. And so I think, I think everybody needs to take a, take a, needs to take, needs to calm down about this, you know, coaching rumors because people just want to talk about it.
00:36:01
Lando
But mean, how many times has John Cooper been on the hot seat in Tampa Bay and yet they keep signing him. Right. So I, and,
00:36:09
Leo Ernewein
Cause there's no better coaches out there than you have.
00:36:11
Lando
There is not, and that's the thing. And that's the thing, yeah.
00:36:13
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:36:27
Lando
And obviously he's going to report to Jared what he thinks about certain players that he's going to bring in. But you've got remember, too, people got to remember, too, Joe Sackick was general manager back in 2022, and they won the Stanley Cup with him as a GM. And he stepped down for Chris McFarlane to take over the, you know, more of the, like, allow Chris McFarlane to be the GM because he was assistant GM, and Joe Sackett just wanted lesser role as being the president. And now Joe Sackett is back being both president and GM. So I think if I was Sackett, I think it just, you know, let's see what the season brings next year. And I think what he needs to do as far as for the Avalanche, they got pushed around ton against Vegas. They need to get some more size and size slash skill.
00:37:20
Lando
on their third and fourth lines. And I think they'll be just fine for next year. Cause I think their top two lines are probably the best top two lines you could ever ask in the NHL.
00:37:30
Lando
So what are your thoughts on all this?
00:37:31
Leo Ernewein
I agree. Yeah, no, I agree. And I don't necessarily think he's on the hot seat because you're right. There isn't necessarily any better coaches out there. We've seen John Cooper on the hot seat in Tampa multiple years. That's just media stoking the fire like we're doing here.
00:37:46
Lando
Exactly.
00:37:46
Leo Ernewein
So it's all fluff. There's no real fire out there. It's just Joe Sackick and Jared Bednar going to get to work this offseason, probably get some big bodies, like you said.
00:37:56
Leo Ernewein
And then I think Joe Sackick is probably commit to one of the two roles next year, and he's probably going to find a GM who gets along with Jared Bednar, if he's smart at least, but Joe Sackick is pretty smart.
00:38:06
Leo Ernewein
So he's probably going find a GM that gets along with Bednar because if he doesn't,
00:38:06
Lando
Yes, he is.
00:38:12
Leo Ernewein
then you got can one of them and it's probably not going to be the GM. And then got to replace Bednar and there's no better coaches out there. So, you know, he's going to find, I think either that or somebody else step into the presidential role. What think about Rob Blake leaving the president or leaving the avalanche to join McFarlane there in Nashville? They're kind of building something now, eh?
00:38:33
Lando
Well, yeah, well, Rob Blake wasn't – Rob Blake was only an advisory role with the Avalanche, so wasn't really in the front office very much.
00:38:41
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, he wasn't the president or anything.
00:38:42
Lando
Yeah, yeah. He was just kind of involved in the advisory role. I think he was kind of more on the scouting side of things just to keep himself busy. Like, Rob Blake used to be the –
00:38:51
Leo Ernewein
So this is like another step on the rear ladder.
00:38:54
Lando
Yeah, exactly. It was just a transition because he got let go by the LA Kings. He was the... I think he was the GM and president with Los Angeles, I think, at the time.
00:39:06
Lando
But anyways, so...
00:39:07
Leo Ernewein
Oh, okay.
00:39:08
Lando
Yeah, so anyways, so Rob, so this was kind of a, he joined the Avalanche just as part of the scouting, I think. hope I'm saying this right because I don't want to say things that I'm wrong about. But as far as I know, he was involved with the Avalanche a little bit, but not, you know, to the extent of, you know, making key decisions. But as far as joining, you know, Chris McFarlane and Rob Blake being part of Nashville, I think this is a good stepping stone.
00:39:36
Lando
The Predators, I think they're not that far away from being a contender for a playoff spot. I think they've got a lot good pieces on their team.
00:39:47
Lando
I think they've... They made some really bad decisions with players hoping that, you know, their past success would bring success to Nashville. And I'm talking about guys like March or so and Stamkos and Brady Shea. And I'm missing somebody else.
00:40:07
Lando
I think, oh, no, it's just those three.
00:40:07
Leo Ernewein
Right, a roster that would have been elite like five years ago.
00:40:10
Lando
Yeah, exactly. So I think they made some bad decisions on their signing and their roster, but they're not that far off. So I think if I'm Rob Blake and Chris McFarlane, I think keep the status quo, but I think they also need to see what pieces do we need to bring in to help push for a playoff spot.
00:40:29
Lando
That's my opinion. But I mean, also, I want to say congratulations to Chris Miss Farland, too, because, you know, he brought in lot of guys in to Colorado.
00:40:40
Lando
He made some really bold decisions. I think, you know, as far as Chris goes, going back to the avalanche, I think he made some, you know, not some great decisions.
00:40:52
Lando
I think he was trying to find certain things to fill a certain role and didn't pan out. Like I, don't think that trading bone Byram to Buffalo for Casey Middles, that was the necessary, the smartest move.
00:41:01
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:41:04
Leo Ernewein
The move.
00:41:05
Lando
mean, you look back, you look back and I think, you know, I, I know
00:41:09
Leo Ernewein
I'm a big middle stat fan. I love middle stat, but that was not the move. Yeah.
00:41:13
Lando
Yeah, I like Casey Middlesat too, and he's found a great role in Boston, but I don't think that was a great move to give up one of your defensemen, which now, you know, I mean, luckily, yeah,
00:41:23
Leo Ernewein
You drafted Byron Flick fourth overall. What are you doing?
00:41:26
Lando
I know.
00:41:27
Leo Ernewein
What are you doing?
00:41:28
Lando
Yeah, I get that Bowen Byram was, you know, maybe not going to have as much ice time as Kael McCarr, but I mean... Nobody's going to have as much ice time as Kalemakar going for it.
00:41:39
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, yeah, I get that.
00:41:42
Lando
He's the man. But I didn't like that trade. You know, the other trade that I didn't like that they did was they let Darcy Kemper go and they got Georgiev instead.
00:41:54
Lando
That one was a...
00:41:55
Leo Ernewein
I've never liked your jam.
00:41:55
Lando
That was an... No, I didn't like that. I didn't like that signing as soon as I saw Georgiev because he really struggled with New York.
00:42:04
Lando
And I thought, well, you know, everybody thought, okay, Georgiev could have...
00:42:08
Leo Ernewein
Is he on the Rangers? He was a Ranger.
00:42:10
Lando
Yeah, he was with the Rangers. He was backing up Shosturkin.
00:42:11
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:42:14
Leo Ernewein
Gotcha.
00:42:14
Lando
Well, Georgiev Shosturkin were the backups to Henrik Lundqvist at the time.
00:42:14
Leo Ernewein
Igor.
00:42:20
Lando
So, and that's why Lundqvist...
00:42:23
Leo Ernewein
That's an elite goaltending core right there.
00:42:26
Lando
Yeah, well, they had to – one of them had to go, and it was Lundqvist who ended up going to Washington, but he retired.
00:42:33
Leo Ernewein
Retiring? Oh, retired. Yeah.
00:42:35
Lando
Yeah, but – and then Georgiev got signed by Colorado because, you know, Shesterkin has been, you know, Shesterkin. And so when they signed – yeah.
00:42:44
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, he's taking that number one for sure.
00:42:46
Lando
And I think the biggest problem with Georgiev is I think he signed too much – too big of a contract. I mean, Colorado also – Chris McFarlane also signed into it too. But I didn't like that signing when McFarlane signed him.
00:43:10
Lando
was like, man. And so basically Colorado had to score more goals than he was letting in, basically.
00:43:15
Lando
So, yeah. So it – I know.
00:43:15
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that's not a recipe for success.
00:43:18
Leo Ernewein
That's the Maple Leafs for stagnation and first round exits.
00:43:19
Lando
Yeah.
00:43:22
Leo Ernewein
But before we wrap it up here, Landon, I'm going to go a little off script. We got one more thing I want to touch base on because it's kind of been blowing up the sports world in my world here. And honestly, it's kind of less about football, more about ethics.
00:43:35
Leo Ernewein
So Landon, here's the deal. Texas
Ethical Concerns: Brendan Soresby's Betting Scandal
00:43:37
Leo Ernewein
Tech quarterback Brendan Soresby is kind of in the middle of a massive controversy right now. Not even kind of. He is in the middle. He's the controversy. The NCAA, which is the ruling in college football or in college sports, the body organization that sets the rules,
00:43:53
Leo Ernewein
Hit him with a lifetime ban after he admitted to placing around $90,000 worth of sports bets over four years, including 40 bets on games involving his own team back when he was at the University of Indiana.
00:44:06
Leo Ernewein
He bet against them. He bet for them. That's a cardinal sin. Normally, that's it. Career over, door slammed shut. Right. But Sorsby's lawyers went to a Texas court, argued that banning him would cause, quote, irreparable career damage. And a judge basically froze the NCAA's punishment in order and gave him an injunction.
00:44:27
Leo Ernewein
So now he's legally allowed to play for Texas Tech this fall while the case drags on. And that case is like actually isn't even a trial. It's scheduled until 2027, meaning he'll finish his entire final season before anyone decides if he actually broke the rules. Thank you.
00:44:44
Leo Ernewein
Here's the scary part, too, is that it basically shows that every athlete in the country or in, yeah, well, in the country because NCAA is only America, that if you get caught gambling, you can find a friendly judge and delay the punishment until after you're done playing. Athletic directors are losing their minds right now over this because it completely guts the NCAA's ability to enforce its own rulebook. If the NCAA can't even protect the integrity of their game, then, you know, what are we doing here?
00:45:12
Leo Ernewein
So Landon, let me throw this to you, not as a football question, but more as like a sports question. Does this ruling basically open the door for athletes to cheat, gamble or manipulate without facing real consequences? And if so, does like when will fans start wondering whether a dropped pass is a actual dropped pass or miss tackles a miss tackle?
00:45:33
Leo Ernewein
Or if it was an honest mistake or a bet gone wrong or how to the college sports world will survive that? What do you think?
00:45:41
Lando
Wow, that's a loaded, loaded, loaded question.
00:45:45
Leo Ernewein
It is, sir.
00:45:48
Lando
So didn't hear about this, first of all. This is completely new to me. had no idea that this even happened. And I love to investigate this a little bit more and maybe talk about this a little bit more throughout the summer.
00:46:05
Lando
My first reaction to this is am all about following the rules as much as you much humanly possibly can.
00:46:14
Lando
When you break rules, as far as I'm concerned, and I've been brought up that, you know, when you break rules and you do stupid things, you face consequences. To me, what this looks like is the typical society thing that we are starting to see throughout all society, not just in sports, but in just in life in general, that everybody thinks they're entitled to do certain things. And when they get caught, everybody's like, everybody's all up in arms like, well, why is this happening to me? I didn't do anything wrong. I made a mistake. Or they try to backtrack or make excuses and things like that.
00:46:54
Lando
my reaction to this this is a very dangerous road that this judge is going down, but this is also at the same time, this is also the... the same stupidity that's going on with our, with the United States government too, right? That they're being allowed to do certain things and without consequences. So to me, this doesn't surprise me. think that justice system in the United States is just absolutely bogus. I, I don't even know why they even have judges if they're going to be doing stuff like this. So,
00:47:23
Lando
This is a very dangerous road. I'm the NCAA, I'd be furious too. This completely goes against code. And think as far as media coverage, I think this is definitely something you don't want as an NCAA because as soon as he steps on that field, there is definitely going to be a lot of people going be like,
00:47:45
Lando
Did he actually mean to do that? And it's just it's not good for sports in general. And this is this is one of the many reasons, many reasons why gambling in sports in general and why they're pushing for gambling in sports.
00:48:02
Lando
is a very dangerous road.
00:48:02
Leo Ernewein
This ruined it.
00:48:04
Lando
And it's dangerous road. And like you just said, it's ruining sports. Basically, that's what it's doing. Greed is becoming a thing instead of playing for the love of the game. That's...
00:48:16
Lando
That's where I'm at with that, with your question. That's it. I'm shocked that they, that an individual would actually bet against his team or for his team or do any of those things. That just blows my mind. What's your reaction? Cause you're, you're very, you're very into the NCAA football world.
00:48:34
Lando
I, I'd love to hear your answer. And I know our listeners would like to too. So take it away, my man.
00:48:40
Leo Ernewein
I mean, scares me because once you open that door, which they are, you're not just dealing with one quarterback in Texas. You're dealing with like every coach, every player, every program trying to figure out where this new line is.
00:48:52
Leo Ernewein
Right. And listen to this, because this is where gets wild. One football coach, anonymously, obviously, total reporter, he's in the Big 12, so he will coach against Texas Tech.
00:49:04
Leo Ernewein
He said, if this is the precedent set, then I owe it my players to bring in people from Las Vegas to teach us how to gamble. Then collectively, we need to decide on which games we will play hard in to cover the spread and which games we won't.
00:49:16
Leo Ernewein
He didn't stop there. He doubled down. He also said, quote, I'm supposed to do what's best for my players. And if that's the case, that would be able to, or in that case, they would be able to make a lot of money betting on our games. That's a precedent for me.
00:49:30
Leo Ernewein
So that's where we're at kind of right now. Coach basically saying if the courts want to enforce the rules, then why should we pretend the rules exist? That's not a football problem. That's a trust problem. The fans are wondering if the sport they love still real.
00:49:42
Leo Ernewein
That's players questioning each other in the locker room. That's coaches thinking, if I don't play this game, somebody else will. Like it's, oh man, that whole college football sport could implode in the next 24 months if we don't see massive rule changes.
00:49:58
Leo Ernewein
There was one guy in Tennessee, he was 26, asked for a college, went to a Tennessee judge to get an injunction because he wanted another year saying like, oh, COVID affected me or something like that, or that year shouldn't have counted or whatever.
00:50:12
Leo Ernewein
And the judge actually declined him. But it was like the only judge out of like 14 other cases so far something like that, that have declined the action when it comes to saying, hey, I want play another year in college football, even though I'm technically not eligible.
00:50:25
Leo Ernewein
There was a coach in Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi that ruled in favor of the Mississippi quarterback coming for another year. The funniest part to all this to me is too is all this stuff never would have happened if Brendan Soresby didn't leave the University of Cincinnati, which is where he was at last year. He played really well and Cincinnati loved him there.
00:50:45
Leo Ernewein
And obviously something fell out because he said, I'm going somewhere else for more money this year. And they were not pleased. And they had dirt on this guy, so they leaked it. They leaked the info of him making those bets because they obviously did their homework on him when they brought him over from the University of Indiana.
00:51:01
Leo Ernewein
He joined Indiana, I think, 2020 when COVID happened. So he had what's called a COVID year. He was able to sit out a year, and it didn't count as his freshman year. So in 2021, he became a freshman, and he redshirted.
00:51:14
Leo Ernewein
And 2022, became a redshirt freshman. And 2023, sophomore, 2024, junior, last year, senior. And now he's trying to get a senior thing again.
00:51:26
Leo Ernewein
He might have even had two COVID years. So yeah, I guess this year would be a senior year. But yeah. It's just, it's unreal. He's got to be like 25 or 26. And he's saying irreparable career damage because I can't play college football, even though he committed the Cardinal sin. He bet on his own teams. Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame. He died. He got a lifetime ban from the MLB for not being in the Hall of Fame. has 4,200 hits. most...
00:51:54
Leo Ernewein
hits leader all time. Barry Bonds is like 38th on that list. That's how good Pete Rose is. And the MLB banned him for life. And I think he died and he's still not in the Hall of Fame. He should be, by the way.
00:52:05
Leo Ernewein
But that's how serious that is because Pete Rose bet on his team. I mean, he always bet on his team to win, but he got caught betting on his team. And he suffered the lifetime ban. And Brennan Sorsby was supposed to get that lifetime ban.
00:52:17
Leo Ernewein
And all sudden he cries to a judge on his home in Lubbock, Texas, by the way, which is where Texas Tech is. Just absolute insanity, asinine. And it sets a precedent that shows that, yeah, those rules don't exist. That now we're going to see people...
00:52:35
Leo Ernewein
who knows what we're going to see. Basically it's getting these gambling allegations going to be all over the place and it's going to be, you know, check out our sports game Bronson sponsored by sports bet, halftime show, stuff like that. But don't gamble. Don't don't two players.
00:52:49
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. It's just ridiculous. All this sports gambling stuff needs to go. In my opinion, they didn't, they didn't need the money. Sports was already lucrative enough. It was greed that wanted more gambling.
00:53:00
Leo Ernewein
And sorry, Landon, that's my mind.
00:53:01
Lando
Yeah.
00:53:04
Lando
Well, you're, I, as soon as they brought, and I completely agree with everything you said, and I'm glad you brought a lot of this stuff up about Pete Rosen, all that sort of stuff. Like I, I agree with you about this gambling stuff. And I, and I hope people who are listening to you and I, they're Leo really take this seriously. Like,
00:53:24
Lando
It's fine. We all want our teams to do well, you know, but it's ruining. It's this is ruining game. This is ruining the games that we all love, no matter what sport it is.
00:53:37
Lando
It's ruining sports.
00:53:37
Leo Ernewein
In sportsmanship, in gamesmanship, it's ruining the integrity of sports, the fabric of sports.
00:53:40
Lando
It. The other games. It is. Yeah, it is 100%.
00:53:46
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:47
Lando
And it's. It's where do you draw the line but again, like I said, man. I've said this, I think, maybe from the start I can't remember what our topic was but it just shows you where the world is right now.
00:54:04
Lando
Everything that's being done in the world right now it doesn't matter if it's in the sports world or it's in our, you know, our governments or whatever it is, or in society.
00:54:14
Leo Ernewein
for money.
00:54:16
Lando
It's all about money, money, money. And where was I going with this too? I lost my train of thought where was going with this.
00:54:25
Leo Ernewein
Something about how, oh, sorry, go ahead.
00:54:25
Lando
It's... Oh, yeah, it was something about, you know, that everybody now feels entitled. And forget where was going with this. I had this all really well thought out. But anyways, it just basically... Like I just, I can't believe that, you know, it's just ruining sport. Like I said, we've talked, said this number of times. It's just, it's ruining sports. It's ruining the integrity of sports.
00:54:50
Lando
I just, I don't, I don't like, well, basically what I was going to say is, I remember was going to say, it's enticing people to gamble. It's enticing people to gamble money away for no apparent reason.
00:55:07
Lando
when people say you shouldn't gamble and they say gamble responsibly, people don't gamble responsibly. As soon as they get into that gambling world and they start winning money, what happens?
00:55:19
Lando
People keep doing it it's just snowball. So I don't get it, man.
00:55:23
Leo Ernewein
I don't think I've been responsible gambler.
00:55:25
Lando
I've... Honestly, man, I'll be honest with you and I'll be honest with our viewers. Here's a story about gambling that happened. And I'm not going to say the individual. Well, I will say the, I'll talk about the individual, but I won't say how how he's related, how he's related to me or how I know this person. But we were in Las Vegas one time and we were, there's this electronic big wheel is what it's called.
00:55:55
Lando
I don't know if you're familiar with the big wheel where you spin the wheel, there's this little ball that goes around. It's a stand-up wheel. The wheel goes around and you bet on where the mark is land. There's six and nine or whatever.
00:56:11
Lando
And so you bet on where the marker is going to, where the spinner stops, you bet on where it's going to stop. So there's an electronic big wheel in Las Vegas that they've created. And it's been around for, I think it's been around for about 15 years now.
00:56:26
Lando
And I don't know if it's still there. I haven't been to Las Vegas for a few years. But so this individual and I, we banded our money together. We put in probably, I think,
00:56:36
Lando
think we put in about 40 bucks each and we got up to about almost a thousand dollars on this big wheel. And we both put 40 bucks in and all of a sudden we could start, just start seeing, we thought, Oh, you know, you get that thirst for, for more and more and more.
00:56:57
Lando
And we got up to about, I think was about $1,200. and then you could just start seeing this starting to dwindle down more and more and more and more so got down to about i think it was almost about i think was about 500 and i said to this individual i said i'm out i we're starting to lose all this all this money we've got about 500 bucks sitting in the machine right now i'm cashing out you can do whatever you want with it but i want my 200 400 200 or whatever that
00:57:29
Lando
that I got. So we cashed out, he went back and he lost it all. He wanted to try to turn that $200 or whatever amount of money had and try to turn it back into what we used to have. And he lost it all. And I, managed walk away with 160 odd dollars. So that's what gambling does to people. It's the thirst for trying to make more money. And what's happening in sports is I know there's a couple of people I work with too. They gamble a lot of money in sports betting on who's gonna win and who's gonna do all this stuff. It's just, it's ruining the game.
00:58:05
Lando
When you watch sports like you and I do, Leo,
00:58:10
Lando
Uh, we should, I watch sports because I love the sport and I won't love the teams that I watch. That's why I watch it. I don't want to gamble based on just because you can gamble. And I hate that money line to that minus and this plus this. And, and then you see, then you see all the, uh, things on the promos on TV saying, you know, this person, the odds of this person win the face off in hockey and, or this, you know,
00:58:39
Lando
Who's going to the coin toss in the NFL? And it's just, it's out of control. But anyways, that's my story about gambling.
00:58:46
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, betting on how long the halftime show is and all this stupid, ridiculous Although I will say, I think we've talked about this before, the guy who won, who placed the bet on how long the halftime show was at the Super Bowl or something like he stood outside the Super Bowl rehearsals when they did the halftime show and timed it.
00:59:03
Leo Ernewein
Smart guy. So, I mean, if you get that kind of information, I'm not mad on you placing a bet. But anything else, anything other, don't do it. It's waste of money. You're wasting your money.
00:59:13
Lando
Exactly.
00:59:16
Lando
I
00:59:17
Lando
I was just going to say, you want to talk really quickly about the Stanley cup final real quick? Or you think you're, yeah.
00:59:23
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I mean, we got to mention the Stanley Cup finals. Vegas, Carolina. Who's leading the series so far? Is it 2-1 Vegas? 2-2.
00:59:31
Lando
It is now 2-2.
00:59:33
Leo Ernewein
Okay, so I missed last night's game.
00:59:36
Lando
Yes, it was on last night.
00:59:37
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, so how was last night's game? Was it 5-3? Yeah, 5-3 for the Hurricanes. I mean, I saw game three was absolutely wild.
00:59:48
Leo Ernewein
That's why I wanted to kind of talk about this. Mitch Marner, fastest hat trick in playoff history within like six minutes. Vegas got off to like a four nothing lead in the second period. And then the Hurricanes stormed back in period number three.
01:00:02
Leo Ernewein
Got like three goals within like 39 seconds or like that. couple goals waved off here and there. Next thing you know, they tie it. We go to overtime. And then a double overtime, I think it was.
01:00:12
Leo Ernewein
Shea Theodore got a kind of a shot from the point that bounced off the boards and off a skate and in.
01:00:14
Lando
Yep, yep.
01:00:21
Leo Ernewein
And they won. Just a complete wild winner. to game three to give Vegas the edge in the series. And now they lost last night's game. How was last night's
Viewership Trends: Stanley Cup Finals
01:00:30
Leo Ernewein
game? Tell me a little bit about that.
01:00:32
Lando
Okay, so last night's game pretty much started off as a gong show like you just said that. Carolina went up 2-0 in the first five minutes of the game.
01:00:43
Lando
Vegas came back and scored and I think it was, well, yeah, William Carlson scored it to make it two one. And then, Jackson Blake, I believe made it three one.
01:00:53
Lando
So the period was done in the first period, Vegas comes back in the second period and ties it up three, three. And, uh, then all a sudden the, you what's, you know, what, lots of chances both ways,
01:01:07
Lando
And then in the third period, Vega Carolina starts putting on the pressure and Che Theodore, like you said, he won. He was the game hero in game three.
01:01:20
Leo Ernewein
In game three, yeah.
01:01:20
Lando
So he coughed up the puck in the middle. They scramble around and then all of sudden Jordan Stahl... Flubbers the puck towards the net. He's completely off balance. His legs are basically twisted.
01:01:36
Lando
And he's falling down. He barely gets enough puck to put it on net. Carter Hart completely misses the puck. And it goes in the net. And then they scored an empty netter. So it was another wild game last night. And it's honestly too bad, man. Because...
01:01:53
Lando
As far as ratings go here in Canada, they're barely making 1 million viewers, basically.
01:01:59
Leo Ernewein
I know without the Oilers, they're hurting.
01:02:01
Lando
Yeah, or Oilers or any of the Canadian teams, Sportsnet, who you work for, or Rogers, who you work for, they're barely making 1 million viewers.
01:02:08
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
01:02:13
Lando
And I guess between the two, between CBC and Sportsnet, I think Sportsnet's getting like 780,000 viewers.
01:02:21
Lando
ish range and CBC is around the 500,000 range. Yeah, it's too bad because this Stanley Cup final has probably one of the most craziest Stanley Cup finals I think I've ever watched. And it's too bad because you got two teams that are not very popular, at least here in Canada. And you know what, in some ways in the United States too, even though the viewing in the United States has been off the charts apparently. So
01:02:49
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, viewing it in the United States has been off the charts. Viewing it in Canada is kind of in the opposite, right?
01:02:54
Lando
Yeah, which is too big.
01:02:56
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, Canadian viewership completely tanked. I think American viewership is averaging like five, nearly 4.7 million viewers per game.
01:03:03
Lando
Which is pretty good for two.
01:03:05
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, in Canada, I think it's...
01:03:05
Lando
It's just that's pretty good.
01:03:10
Leo Ernewein
Final round shed roughly nearly 3 million. Oh, shed nearly. Yeah. Canada is barely above 1.3 when we're used to about the four and a half mark.
01:03:20
Lando
Even up to 7 million sometimes.
01:03:22
Lando
Yeah.
01:03:22
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
01:03:22
Leo Ernewein
I mean, Montreal was averaging about four and a half during their conference finals right before they were eliminated.
01:03:27
Lando
Yeah.
01:03:30
Leo Ernewein
So yeah, that is, I mean, I kind of expected that though. Should we wrap things up?
01:03:34
Lando
Well, think we all did.
01:03:37
Lando
We all did.
01:03:37
Leo Ernewein
What's that?
01:03:37
Leo Ernewein
We all did.
01:03:38
Lando
We all, I think,
01:03:39
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, we all did.
01:03:40
Lando
We all did. Like I, I know you and I talked off Mike that you were basically, we won't repeat some of the language that you use, but basically you were, I'm paraphrasing. It's basically like screw Vegas and Carolina. And that's, you know, you're at,
01:03:57
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I did say that.
01:03:58
Lando
right. You did say that.
01:04:00
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
01:04:00
Lando
Uh, But, you know, you're not lot of people in Canada were feeling the same way as you did. It's just like, OK, there's no Canadian content. don't like Vegas. I don't like Carolina. So why am I watching this?
01:04:11
Lando
Right. So I get it.
01:04:11
Leo Ernewein
If you're not a fan of those certain players either, like if you're, I get like people checked in when Crosby was in the finals because they're fan Crosby, right? When the Penguins were the finals. Or, you know, if there was some Stamkos fans out there when the Lightning were in the finals and stuff like that.
01:04:26
Leo Ernewein
But just don't think that Vegas, like, I don't see a lot of Jack Eichel fans. Sure, there might be some Mitch Marner fans, but they're closeted right now still, for sure.
01:04:36
Lando
Yeah.
01:04:37
Leo Ernewein
know some people were cheering for Vegas as their second team when Vegas got announced. And it's basically because they were like a Blackhawks fan for a long time or something like that. And the Blackhawks sucked. So they were like, I'll cheer for Vegas as my second team when the NHL announced them. And then they didn't realize they were going get a stacked roster and do all these cheeky rules, bending things to put people on long-term IR and bring back to the playoffs. Cough, cough, Mark stone.
01:05:03
Leo Ernewein
But yeah, I think it makes sense. But I think that's all the time we have for episode 23 today. Lando, I just wanted to say happy early birthday for you next week here or this week, I should say on the 14th. Enjoy this Sunday is your birthday. So happy early birthday there, good friend.
01:05:22
Lando
Thanks, my man.
01:05:24
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, and thanks to everybody tuning in. Thanks for hanging out with us. We'll be back next week to break down the opening games of the World Cup, some more Stanley Cup final reactions, and whatever else is shaking up the sports world. Lando, any final shout-outs before we sign things off?
01:05:39
Lando
Yeah, so I was thinking long and hard today about who I was going to do a shout out to. And I'm actually going to make a shout out to two cousins of mine, also from Regina, Saskatchewan. I'm going to make a shout out to Dean and Pam Bridecrates. They've been...
01:05:59
Lando
They're one of my two favorite cousins. You know, they love me dearly. They love when I come to visit. And when I told them back last fall that I'm going to be doing a podcast with you there, Leo, they were over the moon and they were so excited because this is exactly thing that, you know, they thought I should be doing and being involved in. So I just want to give a quick shout out to them. know they listen to us once in a while here and there.
01:06:27
Lando
So I just want to make a shout out to Dean and Pam for thanks for being awesome cousins. And thanks for listening and your support.
01:06:35
Leo Ernewein
Awesome. Shout out Dean and Pam. And we appreciate the support. And you guys did your part in raising a solid cousin, Lando Semenok there. Lando Semenok there. Sorry, I got the nickname and real name mixed up in the order there. And again, thanks to our listeners for tuning in.
01:06:53
Leo Ernewein
This is Leo and Lando Show episode number 23 on your, wherever you get your podcast, that sort of stuff.
01:07:02
Lando
Thanks for listening, everybody.
01:07:04
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Nice.