Speaker 1:
Are you ready? Let's go. From AMI Central. Now start playing in The Neutral Zone.

Speaker 2:
Here's a pitch on the way. 36 yards for the win.

Speaker 1:
This.

Speaker 2:
Here comes the big chance. The shot. Is this the tiger?

Speaker 1:
The neutral zone. Oh my God.

Speaker 3:
This is as good as it gets.

Speaker 1:
Now here's your host, two-time Paralympian Brock Richardson.

Brock Richardson:
What's going on everybody? It's time for another edition of The Neutral Zone.
Today I'm going to start on a bit of a sombre note. I have been doing this with a bunch of different panellists over the past six years, and I came out of school nearly seven years ago and when we were doing school, we were always told eventually one day it's going to be tough for you to do your show. I never really understood what that meant until today around 12:30 PM Eastern, as we record this, the para-sports community suffered a loss, a major loss in the Boccia community and that is referee Donna Zorn passed away with a short battle with cancer and we do not know much as we record this other than to say that she has passed away.
This one hits close to home for me because I just mceed their national championships and I called her up to the podium and she inducted somebody into the Hall of Fame for Boccia Canada. All was well and nothing was said or learned about any battle. So this seems to have been a short stint, but communities like Bocci will forever miss someone like Donna Zorn because she was a champion in not only Bocci but in all para-sports.
She was the epitome of inclusion, the epitome of all that. So today we dedicate our program to Donna Zorn. And yeah, with that, I'd like to welcome in my panellists for this week. Let's start with Claire Buchanan. And Claire, how are you?

Claire:
I'm doing fantastic. I think we can all say that that was a fantastic Super Bowl and it's going to be another great week going into sports and glad to be here with you guys.

Brock Richardson:
Yes. And also joining us is Camden. It's Cameron, how are you?

Cameron:
Doing good. Got my voice back. So that's always a good start to the week, I'm feeling better, which is good. Real happy about that. Like Claire said, the Super Bowl, it was exciting. Really enjoyed watching that. I like when it's close. So yeah, that was really good. Otherwise, I'm just kind of getting caught up in the world of sports and everything else because being knocked out for a week, I wasn't paying too much attention to anything. I was just in the bedroom and having the humidifier on and that's about it. So glad to be back in the saddle.

Brock Richardson:
Yes, we're glad to have you back in the saddle. Before we get to this week's headlines, I want to alert you to the fact that we'll be chatting with Devin Heroux, who is one of the really highly profiled and well-known people in the business with the Parasport community. We'll also be talking the curling possibility that's coming up with the Scotty Tournament of Hearts and the Arctic Games and something called the knuckle huck, which Josh talked about last week and I still don't understand. So maybe Devin can enlighten us on more detail of what the heck a knuckle huck is and what this is, because the visuals last week were unbelievable.

Cameron:
Yeah, it's no bunny hop like I guess you used to do back in the fifties or sixties for a dance. So yeah, it's going to be interesting to talk to him about.

Brock Richardson:
Indeed, it will be. And with that, let's get into our headlines for this week.

Speaker 1:
Neutral Zone headlines, headlines.

Claire:
Let's kick things off. In the Parasport world recently, the pools have been released for the women's and men's wheelchair basketball World Championships. These will be held in Dubai from June 9th to the 20th. Let's get started on the women's side with Canada will be in a pool with Brazil, China, Australia, Spain, and Great Britain. And on the men's side, they will start off against Egypt, Germany, and Thailand.

Brock Richardson:
Another Super Bowl is in the books. We send a big congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs as they win yet another Super Bowl. Which makes it two in the last four years, the final score was 38-35. I really thought that this Super Bowl would go the other way. I did not think it would be close, nor did I pick the winner correctly as I thought the Philadelphia Eagles would be far and away better. But Patrick Mahomes is proving to me much like Tom Brady, don't bet against Patrick Mahomes.

Cameron:
Yeah, I know Kansas City. They played a perfect game, so that's why they won and because of a couple of mistakes, that's why the Eagles lost.
In NBA history was recently made when LeBron James broke a scoring record that had stood for nearly 40 years. Brian Clark has more.

Brian Clark:
The first points came on October 29th, 2003, nearly 20 years later, it was number 38,388.

Speaker 7:
LeBron one-on-one against Kenrich Williams backing him in turn shoots. Scores. There it is.

Brian Clark:
That shot put LeBron James all alone atop the NBAs scoring list is heard on ESPN's Seven Ten LA, he surpassed another Lakers legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Speaker 7:
The King, LeBron James has passed the Captain.

Brian Clark:
Kareem was in the arena for the occasion. Brian Clark, ABC News.

Cameron:
Yeah, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar ever the gentleman gave the ball to LeBron James. But one thing I just want to mention is that I still think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is technically, in my opinion, the best score in the NBA because half of his career had the three-point line and half of it did not. And from what I read or understood, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his entire career only made one three-pointer. So all of the points that he did were two-pointers compared to LeBron James and all the three-pointers that he does. So yes, congratulations to LeBron James, but to me, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is still the king.

Claire:
Yeah, definitely shows how the game has changed over the years. The Toronto Blue Jays infielder, Bo Bichette voids arbitration and signs three-year deal worth 33.6 million. This deal will bring him right up to where he is eligible to be an unrestricted free agent. The big question is, will he be here long-term?

Brock Richardson:
Those are your headlines for this week. And as a really big Blue Jays fan, we congratulate Bo and his success. And I question whether he will be here past the three-year term that he just signed. But three years is a long way away. What is not a long way away is for me to tell you about our Twitter poll questions. And the question was simple. Who do you think will win this year's Super Bowl? 67% said Kansas City Chiefs. 33% said Philadelphia Eagles. This week's question is related to the Toronto Raptors trade deadline. Are you happy with what the Toronto Raptors did at the deadline? Your answers are yes or no. You may cast your votes at our Twitter handles coming at you right now.

Speaker 1:
And welcome back to the Neutral Zone AMI broadcast booth.

Speaker 2:
Play ball.

Speaker 1:
And we are set to get this ballgame underway. The first pitch brought to you by Brock Richardson's Twitter account @neutralzonebr.

Speaker 2:
Strike.

Speaker 1:
First pitch strike. And hey gang, why not strike up a Twitter chat with Claire Buchanan for the Neutral Zone? Find her @neutralzonecb.
And there's a swing at a chopper out to second base right at Claire. She picks up the ball, throws it over to first base-

Speaker 2:
Out.

Speaker 1:
... for a routine out. And fans, there is nothing routine about connecting with Cam and Josh from the Neutral Zone, @neutralzonecamj and @jwatson200. Now that's a winning combination.
And this organ interlude is brought to you by AMI Audio on Twitter. Get in touch with the Neutral Zone. Type in @amiaudio.

Brock:
Our guest today is one of the more well-rounded reporters in our business. He covers the Olympics, Paralympics, curling, and most recently the Arctic Games. He comes to us from Toronto and is literally in the CBC studios at the moment. Devin, welcome to the program. Thanks so much for coming back.

Devin:
Hey, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me on. And yes, I'm at the broadcast center in downtown Toronto. By the way, guys, a place I'd never thought I'd work. So when I get to talk to you from this place, a small-town boy from Saskatoon, I'm like, I still get to do this. So I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 5:
Thanks for coming on Devin. And I got to be honest with you, I know your scarf game is phenomenal and I was going to put the one and only scarf that I have on, but it's a Toronto's Argos scarf and I didn't want to upset you because I know you're probably a Saskatchewan Roughriders fan. So that's why I'm not wearing a scarf to try to compete with your scarf game. I got to be honest with you.

Devin:
You. Well, you know what? I haven't had to wear a scarf for a while and I know Brock mentioned the Arctic Games. And I was trying to look cute rather than warm at the Arctic Games. That was a big mistake, because for the first time in my life I got frostbite on my ear doing a live television hit.

Speaker 5:
Oh.

Devin:
I don't know if you guys have ever experienced frostbite before, but I was on the air with Heather Hiscox, 12 minutes in minus 40-degree temperatures outside with that little wire around your ears so you can hear the host. I got inside to the hotel, my ear ballooned. It was swollen for two days, but I got the story. I did the live television hit, I fought through it. I gave 110%, whatever cliche you want. Could have had a scarf wrapped around my ears though.

Cam:
So Devin, can you maybe start by telling us what it was like covering the Arctic Games besides the frostbite? Were you ... covered something called the knuckle hop and we were very intrigued by the knuckle hop. Can you maybe tell us a little bit about that? Because that sounds like it hurts.

Devin:
Well first of all, Cam, I had no idea what to expect to go into the Arctic Winter Games. We knew that this was the first time the games were returning after five long years. The pandemic, like so many other things in our lives, derailing the games. These games take place every two years. They have since 1970 and essentially they were created to allow athletes from the north, the circumpolar north, to compete in their traditional sports on their own turf, their own way. You said it, the knuckle hop, one of the seven traditional Arctic sports.
I've tried it. There's no video. Well there is video but nobody's ever going to see it because I'm sure everybody has seen the knuckle hop video. But you're literally doing a plank, which is hard enough to hold on your knuckles on your tiptoes and bouncing around on a hardwood floor. 188 feet is what the furthest competitor travelled. Three feet short of a Arctic Games record, by the way.
And what I find fascinating about this, you guys, is all of these games, and I wanted to tell this more and I think I'm hoping I go back, it's in Alaska next March. These are all rooted in actual practical, traditional ways of life. And the knuckle hop is meant to resemble a seal gliding across the ice so that when the hunters were moving into those spaces, they would blend in as if they were a seal hopping on the ice. So these are things actually rooted in very traditional practices.
It was spellbinding, I mean not only the knuckle hop but the two-foot high kick where you're literally standing in one place and then kicking an object in the air, which is hanging higher than the competitors. The snow snake outside, one of the Dene games where they have this sort of spear-shaped thing and you've got to rifle it across you. It was incredible. It was more than sport. Calls to action, reconciliation through sport. I've had the great fortune to cover a lot of multi-sport games. This one is right up there because it meant so much to the competitors. It was a family reunion in a lot of ways for the competitors, and it was magic. It was so incredible.

Claire:
I think you hit it right on the head when you said it's magic. I was there a year ago in Yellowknife and got to witness some of the games firsthand from people from that area. And it's incredible, you're right. It truly goes deeper than sport. It's really a way of life and kind of giving homage to kind of their upbringings.
And you've also had the opportunity to cover both the Paralympic Games in Beijing that happened both in the winter and summer. Can you touch on a little bit of why Beijing was able to bring both the summer Winter Olympics to there and how well they were run both on both ends?

Devin:
I think the very simple answer, Claire, is money and regimes that can decide that if a Games is going to be in our country, in our backyard, it's going to be. Whereas in Canada, it's put to the people in a lot of respects. I think most recently we have seen that play out in a very public way, both in Calgary voting against the 2026 Olympics and Paralympics and Vancouver still having this conversation about it. But I think this is an important time in the Olympic and Paralympic movement. I think you aptly point out that Beijing has hosted in 2008 the Summer Games and the Winter Games in 2022. You can look back to Sochi, you can look back to the Men's World Cup in Qatar. These are places where you literally have dictators saying, we're going to hold the games, we're going to get people to work in very unfair labour conditions to pull off these games.
And there is a general sentiment I would say in the movement right now that doesn't really feel good. And in the conversations that I'm having as we look forward to Paris, as we look forward to Italy, as we look forward to LA, that in a lot of ways this can be the Renaissance for the Olympic and the Paralympic movement because I think there will always be corruption. There will always be unsavoury things that have taken place in the background to allow these countries to host the games. Let's be frank and real about that. But I think for once what I'm hearing is a lot of people are finally taking a deep breath and going, we can kind of actually enjoy this a little bit and not talk about the atrocious human rights violations that happen in some of these other places that have dominated the conversation going into it.
Not to mention the pandemic, which was such a weird thing to navigate going both into Tokyo and into Beijing. Because here I am trying to remember the human aspect of all of this. Right? We're playing a game. That's what we're talking about here. People were losing family members. There was so much more at play than sport. And quite frankly, it was disheartening to see the conversation in some of the highest levels be centred around the Games must go on at all costs.
So it was a weird thing for me personally, who always tries to lean into the humanity of my reporting to strike a balance between let's celebrate our athletes who are busting their asses to represent their country and make us all proud, but also remember the cost at which this is all taking place. And I think that was exacerbated and brought into light in Beijing. And there are still so many unresolved issues. Exactly, right, exactly a year later, which is crazy to think about. When I think about Beijing, I kind of gloss over and go, was that really a year ago? It was. And we're still talking a lot about a lot of these same issues. So that's my thought on that.

Cam:
And speaking about the human aspect, another piece of the news that came out from those games was the fact that the Paralympic athletes would be receiving equal funding for medals earned. What do you think that has to be done or needs to be done for the community at large to make that happen?

Devin:
Well, it still hasn't happened and I'm not taking the pressure off. I'm doing whatever I can in my very privileged position to have a platform to ask people in power tough questions. I followed up actually a week and a half ago with the Canadian Paralympic Committee not knowing that I would be on this podcast because this matters to me. And our Canadian Paralympians are as much sporting heroes as anybody else in this country and it's unbelievable to me that they do not receive compensation for winning medals. Chantal Petitclerc, who is such a champion on this and has brought it up in the Senate, and has spoke so wonderfully about this, can't get the traction on this.
I put a lot of these questions to CPC President Karen O'Neill, and what was interesting to me in all of this is that ... and we all know this, that the Canadian Paralympic Committee for so long has literally just been hanging on by a thread just to get our Paralympians to World Cups, to get them into world-class training facilities to get them to the Paralympics. For a long time, they were just trying to keep the lights on and get our athletes to compete on the world stage.
That's kind of changed. They get $5 million of funding from the federal government. They're in a much healthier position now. But years ago when you were literally life and death situations to survive, you had to make some tough choices. My feeling from what I've done in my investigation is that the Canadian Paralympic Committee is in a position now where they can make money for medals a priority, full stop, get it done. That's my feeling on what I know on this. I continue to ask these questions. The sense I'm getting in my background conversations is that this is going to get done, but you asked what's it going to take?
It's not just incumbent upon the Canadian Paralympic Committee to make this happen. It's Sport Canada. And more than anything it's the private business sector, the sponsors in this country that need to step up and say we put a value on this the same way we put a value on everything else in sport in this country. Hockey Canada showed us their cards this summer and sponsors pulled out. Where's all that money going? Seems like a good time it could go to Canadian Paralympians at this point.
So I think as we look at this whole thing as an ecosystem, that time is now to get this done, to get it done for Paris and to get Canada on equal footing as some of the leaders in Australia and the United States who did get it done. It's not going to be perfect in the beginning. Nothing ever is, but quit making excuses because that's what it feels like they are at this point, is my read on this. I'm pretty pointed on it. I'm not going to pull.

Cam:
I've got chills just listening to you.

Speaker 5:
Here, here on that.

Claire:
Yeah. You said it perfectly.

Speaker 5:
It's not even-

Cam:
Thank you for continuing to ask those tough questions and to fight for Paralympians and all of us on the panel really appreciate you and what you do.

Devin:
This is turning into a bit of a rant and my Ted Talk will end in a second, but-

Cam:
Rant away. Bring it, Devin.

Devin:
I've been lucky enough to be one of less than a handful of national reporters in this country that have been at the last three Paralympics. And when you see the way these athletes train what they put into it changes. It changes hearts and minds. And I know every two years we celebrate our Paralympians and then they sort of just fade away from the limelight. It's not enough anymore to feel good every two years and then just forget about our Paralympians. We're better than that as a country and we need to support our Paralympians in the same way that we support all our athletes.

Claire:
You're absolutely right. And it's people like you from the able-bodied community that we need those voices to kind of push this through.
So, another tough subject in sport is the news that Russia and Belarus will be welcomed back to the games in Paris in 2024. What is your reaction to that?

Devin:
Well, I ... welcomed is an interesting thing, because it implies that people are happy about their return and I don't think people are happy about it. In fact, one of the most turbulent 48 to 72-hour reporting periods in my career played out almost exactly a year ago when I was in the throes of getting ready for the Paralympics when war broke out. And when there were some serious questions being asked about the involvement of the Russian and Belorussian athletes at the Paralympics, and you guys will remember it very well, the about-face from the International Paralympic Committee in a stunning rebuke and reversal, they decided that those athletes wouldn't compete. And this might be giving journalists too much credit who were on the ground, but we put a lot of pressure and we asked a lot of tough questions about why they were there and why they were competing.
Here's what I know right now. Our sports minister Pascale St-Onge has made it abundantly clear that the federal government of Canada does not want to see Russian and Belorussian athletes competing in Paris. I find that stance one of the more strong stances I've seen from the Canadian government in the international sporting community. In fact, I can tell you over the weekend I was on calls with the sport minister's office. She was on a call with 35 other sport ministers around the world who unequivocally and unanimously are signing a letter saying Russia and Belorussian athletes should not compete in Paris. We know that the mayor of Paris have said those athletes aren't welcomed at the games and yet the most powerful governing body in the world, the International Olympic Committee, some people might argue FIFA, they can swap out either one, are in full-on campaign mode. You see it in the headlines Thomas Bach over the weekend talking about how history will remember this, and looking back on history and other times of this.
I want to be thoughtful with what I say on this. Collectively, this is such an important moment for the Olympic and Paralympic movement. At a time when Ukrainians don't get to live their normal day-to-day life, at a time when Ukrainian athletes are still out there trying to bring hope and optimism to a country that doesn't have a lot right now, sport inherently will always be political. And in the line of battle at the Paris Olympics, we're going to see really incredible acts of solidarity. And I think the sentiment across the international sporting community from athletes and from political leaders is that they don't want to see Russia and Belorussia competing at those Olympics.
I think it's going to be a turbulent next few months. If I were a betting person, I would say at this point the way this is all going, we will see Russian and Belorussian athletes competing as neutrals in Paris. I think that's what's going to play out. And I think there are going to be a lot of people who are very disappointed about that decision.

Cam:
Devin, because you're so versed in so many different sports. I also want to talk a little bit about curling, because that's my first love of growing up.

Speaker 5:
Ooh.

Cam:
Here in Ontario at the Dixie Curling Club. I'll give a shoutout to them cause that's where I used to curl many moons ago. A couple of things. The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is coming up. I want you to talk a little bit about that. Maybe you can kind of let us know what's going on there. And I always love watching The Curling Show, and is that still going to be happening with the Queen of Curling Colleen Jones as well?

Devin:
Thank you for asking that because as I sit here, I'm literally hours away from the relaunch, the rebrand of That Curling Show to get all curling vans across the country and around the world ready for this curling extravaganza that's going to be taking place over the next three months. So we're actually going to a bit of a different format. This is the first time I'm speaking publicly about it. So this is your exclusive. We're not going to be live, and let me tell you why. Because we're actually going to be in more places now. We're going to be on CBC Gem every week, and we're working on also getting the show on CBC television after Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night. So we're really excited that that will be available to more Canadians and just in time for the Scotties.
And what a riveting field this is on our first rebranded show. We have Kerri Einerson, who is looking for a fourth consecutive Scotties championship. Little tie to the Queen of curling Colleen Jones, my co-host. Colleen won four straight from 2000 to 2004. No other skip has done that. So Carrie is chasing Colleen. And then my favourite segment, Keeping Up With the Jones, Jennifer Jones and Colleen Jones. They both have six Scotties wins, and Jennifer Jones is making her 17th appearance at the big show. If she can win lucky number seven, she'll stand above the rest. So we have both of those two incredible skips on the show.
We have Emma Miskew, who is a player's representative for the Curling Association. She's going to talk about the pregnancy issue that came up. Curling Canada sort of botched the rules around only the top five teams in the country were going to be able to bring in a replacement for pregnant women on their team. I mean, I mentioned tone-deaf a little earlier in the show. What are we talking about?
I mean, the bigger theme in all of this, and this is a quick little aside, why are these boards of national sport organizations not listening to athletes? It's 2023. Why are you making decisions without consulting the athletes? So this all played out ugly and embarrassingly in a very public way. Now they've changed the rule. So we'll talk to Emma about that on the show.
And then we're going to end the show, a really cool segment, Krista McCarville, the great Northern Ontario skip who's also a teacher, who's also a mom; Kerry Galusha from Northwest Territories making her 18th Scotties appearance; and Heather Nedohin, the great curler out of Alberta. All three of those women who have played at numerous Scotties became curling parents. They were at the under-18 national championships in Timmons. We're going to ask them what it's like to be on the other side of things when you are watching rather than playing. And I think it's just such a cool thing to see our curling champions, these powerful women on ice, now cheering on their children who are going to be the next generation of curlers in this country. It is awesome. It's important. It's about grassroots, it's about the Dixie Curling Club. It's about all the curling clubs and all the curling parents and the community that keeps this game alive.
So we're back. We're not going anywhere, and it's going to be more dramatic than ever.

Brock:
Devin, I have to be honest and tell you that I have never been gripped so much by a conversation with someone in the almost seven years we've been doing this program. The passion that came out of you. And as I sit here as producer of this program, I think to myself, man, we could have done an entire podcast with you. We could have just had it all week. It's just unbelievable the time, the effort you took to bring us the realness, the rawness, which some media personalities don't. They give you the diplomatic answers and they say, this is what I believe in, end of story. And you gave us everything in this interview. We greatly appreciate it Devin. Thank you so much, and we will have you back on very, very soon because there are conversations that we haven't even had yet that we still need to have. So we appreciate it very much. Thank you so much.

Devin:
I appreciate all of you. I'm always here for you. I think we have to speak truth to power and we're in this together more than ever. Always here for you guys. Appreciate you.

Brock:
Thank you so much. That is Devin Heroux, who is literally the best in the business in parasports. And that's not discounting Scott Russell, who's right up there, but the realness of Devin Heroux is unbelievable. That's Devin Heroux, he will be back. Thank you so much. If you liked what you heard, here's how you can get ahold of us by voicemail.

Speaker 1:
If you want to leave a message for The Neutral Zone, call now 1-866-509-4545. And don't forget to give us permission to use your message on the air. Let's get ready to leave a voicemail.

Speaker 2:
If any of you have just watched the last block and are sitting here thinking, "I need to digest what Devin Heroux just finished talking about." Imagine the people around this proverbial table that I'm going to ask in mere moments their thoughts, but in order to give them a little bit of time to let the sum of Devin's thoughts marinate in their brains and mine and all those things, we're going to talk briefly about the Super Bowl. So as we mentioned, the Kansas City Chiefs win 38-35, lots of storylines, guys, thoughts from both of you starting with Cam and then over to Claire.

Cam:
I think it was a phenomenal game. The leads were going back and forth and tying it up, and so that part was really exciting as far as from a spectator standpoint and taking a look at the two quarterbacks, Mahomes and Hurts, I believe Hurts, he ended up having more yards passing or total yards, which was 304. I think it was a total of 380... No sorry, it was 304 yards. He had 70 yards rushing, which I believe was a Super Bowl record for rushing for a quarterback.
And Hurts, he ended up being I think the better quarterback to a point, but he had that one fumble and I think that's what really changed the game because Kansas City picked it up and got it for a touchdown. It's a game of mistakes basically, and if you make a mistake and the other team scores, but there weren't even a lot of mistakes and I don't even know if... Well, I think Kansas City made one of them because wasn't a last episode, Brock, that you were talking with Josh and about the football wasn't going to hit the uprights or wasn't going to hit the crossbar.
It did hit the crossbar, it hit the pole, I think Kansas City, for one of the field goals. Thank God it did hit it. So wanted to bring that up or at least mention that, but it was a phenomenal game, the catches. There was some absolutely phenomenal catches from both sides as well, and hardly anyone made mistakes in that game except for the Eagles. They made a couple and I think that's what turned over the game.
The only other thing is at the end of the game when it's tied, there's that questionable call about holding, but even the player afterwards said, "Yeah, I held him and I was hoping the ref didn't notice it." A lot of people had a problem with that, probably more Eagles fans than anything else. But even that, they still had the ball. They still would've kicked the field goal, I believe. And then it is just that the Eagles would've had about a minute and 45 or close to two minutes to try to go back down and to try to get a touchdown or to tie it up with another field goal. So I don't know. To me, it was really exciting and really enjoyed it.

Claire:
Yeah, super exciting game. You said it perfectly, Cam. It was a game of not trying to be perfect, but it was a game of where those little mistakes were going to be. And I don't know why they're putting so much attention on this last call of holding, especially when the athlete himself is saying that it was the right call. So I don't know why there's so much attention around that play when I think the turning point of the game was that turnover, the fumble. If that hadn't had happened, I really believe that Philadelphia would've been walking away with this win.
And as a Alabama fan, I had my Alabama running shoes on and I was putting all my energy into my boy Jalen Hurts, but he had a phenomenal game. I mean, the stats say it clearly. Patrick Mahomes threw for under 200 yards, so he really put the ball on the ground and they won that game with their running game and their special teams with that big turnover. So I was a little hopeful there when seeing that missed field goal and thinking that the energy was going to swing Philly's way after that, but yeah, what a game, what a show. Phenomenal.

Speaker 2:
Yeah, easily one of the best, if not the best, Super Bowl I have seen. I just want to make mention here that brother Jason Kelce congratulates Travis Kelce by saying, "Bleep you, but congratulations." And I think that that was sort of the funny storyline that came out the day after the Super Bowl. Brothers will be brothers and you knew that there would be some exchange, and I do think Philadelphia will be there in the future, and I don't think this is the last matchup we're going to see between Kansas City and Philadelphia. I think it's one that's going to stay. And I got to be honest, the defence really never got going for Philadelphia. And that's the truth of the matter, but congratulations to Kansas City for winning their second Super Bowl in four years. To win two Super Bowls period is hard. To do it in a four-year span is even harder. So respect Kansas City because they deserve it. And those of us in the media didn't put enough respect on them because everybody thought Philadelphia was just going to run over them, and that just simply didn't happen.
Someone that ran over us with his words was Devin Heroux and I'm going to use this expression, but I'm going to use it in the way that it was a good thing. I feel like I got hit by a bus of knowledge. And that's what happened with Devin Heroux and I think the thing that I took away from this conversation is his passion and the part at which we had passion from him was when he was talking about equality for parasport athletes and the money, and I think he put it very plainly and said, "We need to stop using excuses and pay these athletes." The Canadian Paralympic Committee is in a better financial position than they were as he pointed out, and we just need to do this.
I honestly thought that when he reported on it at the end of the games, guys, in Beijing and he said, "This is going to be the way it's going to be and funding is going to be." I didn't think it would be having this conversation of... It's not happened yet. And there's still going to be a lot of questions. Thoughts from you guys on that and just the whole interview, if we could please. Claire start with you and then go straight over to Cameron.

Claire:
It's conversations like this that we have every so often with people with that level of passion that just reignites my passion for using my voice and using it in spaces where it's going to hold leverage and make change. And it was an incredible interview to be able to see what is happening on the back end of things and get a little more insight of where we are in terms of being able to support our athletes both at the Paralympic level and the Olympic level and seeing where the discrepancies lie. And really, as athletes, we feel like people are sitting on their hands and they're able to get up and make the right changes. And it's really, really refreshing to know that we have people like Devin putting their passion forward to make change for people that aren't even a part of his direct demographics. Yeah, incredible conversation and I can't wait to have more with him.

Cam:
I think his new nickname is the passion, so Devin The Passion Heroux. I had chills. When a person that cares so much and sees inequality and wants to change that and to me, that's what a good reporter does or can do is to fight for equality. And that's what Devin is doing and he's not giving up. And that's what he said during the interview as well. And I just think he is a great ambassador for disabled sports because he wants to see the equality there between the Olympics and the Paralympics and he knows who to go to, as well as to ask the tough questions. Like he says, he doesn't care if he ruffles feathers or his boss gets upset with him because he wants to be real. He wants to be honest.
And you can just see how real of a person he is and how much it bothers him that the equality isn't there for disabled sports compared to Olympics. And he has such a vast knowledge of a bunch of different sports. We just barely touched... We did three different topics, curling, disabled sports and the Arctic Winter Games, and that is just a tiny bit of what he does. So he's just such a wealth of knowledge and he should be a motivational speaker, I think, as well because he knows how to motivate people so well and it's just a pleasure having him on the show every time he comes on.

Speaker 2:
Yeah, I agree. The one other piece of information that I want to get thoughts from you guys is Belarus and Russia being welcomed back to the game. And I do want to preface when I wrote the question, that is exactly how it was phrased in the media that they would be welcomed back. And I love the fact that he said it's an interesting choice of words because I don't know that they're going to be welcomed back. And he made the mention of people signing petitions and saying, "We don't agree with this." And I don't even know, guys, if not using your flag and just being Olympic athletes from name the place, in this case Belarus and Russia. I don't know that that's enough, Claire. To me, they're still going as athletes. We all know where they're from. You can hide this in any way you want to, but it's still these athletes. Claire, I'm curious to your thoughts.

Claire:
Well, I think Devin touched on it really well that this is another instance where I don't think that they're taking into consideration or reaching out to athletes themselves and getting their opinions. I think it's, again, another political move in sport. Let's not say that the entire country of Russian athletes are doping. I truly believe that in each of these countries that there are clean athletes that want to train and want to do it the right way and the fact that they've reached this point of no return of having that trust from the other countries and the IOC, it's a hard to navigate because like I said, I truly believe that there's athletes out there in these countries that want to do it the right way and they're not really given the pathway to do that to represent their country. So it's a tough subject, but it comes from people making mistakes and when you make a mistake, there's consequences and sometimes you just can't come back from those mistakes.

Speaker 2:
Before I let Cameron weigh in here, even in this case with the war going on between Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, not everybody, like you said, Claire, with the doping situation, not everybody in that situation is doing doping. Not everybody in this situation is part of the war. Not everybody is agreeing with what they're doing as nations. So at what point do we hold the athletes to account who are saying, "When you go to these games, I don't support what my nation's doing, I just want to compete as an athlete and that's it?" I think that's where we get into this murky water of we want to put everybody into a box and it's not fair to your point, Claire. Cameron, I know you have stuff to say on this topic.

Cam:
What me? I never have anything to say, Brock. What are you talking about? I might have a couple things to say. With Russia, they chose to go to war and so with Devin saying what he was saying about people are signing petitions and they're being very strong with the words as far as Russia shouldn't take part, as well as Belarus. I'm wondering, and I'm reading between the lines here, I'm wondering if maybe some nations like Canada might boycott because if Russia is going to play and there's still a war going on, I wonder if a country like Canada made boycott and there might be other countries as well. So that's what I was thinking when Devin was speaking about Russia and Belarus and Canada being upset that Russia's going to be in. Everyone has their own individual opinion or their choice to do what they want to do.
Russia, as a country, as a whole, their government has went into Ukraine and started a war. So I don't think Russia should be able to participate. However, if there, and I don't know how you would be able to know who is in support of the war and who is not in support of the war in Russia, but somehow if you're able to figure that out and let them come under the Olympic flag and compete as a competitor if they don't believe in the war, I think I would like to see that happen, but I do not know how you would be able to do that, to know whether or not a person is lying or not to say no, they don't support the war. So unfortunately, the government has made the decision and I think that Russia should not be able to compete until the war is over and same with Belarus.

Speaker 2:
I may be opening a can of worms here that we don't have enough time to discuss, but here's what I'll say. With the decision of the IOC and the IPC making the decisions they're making, the challenge becomes are they delving into a territory that isn't part of what they are supposed to do? And what I mean by that is are they delving into politics when it's that old adage of stick to sports, they're meant to do sports and that's what they're meant to do? And so at what point do we draw the line and say to the IOC or IPC and say, "Okay, but it's not on you to make these decisions?" Do I think they're making the right decisions in not allowing these nations to compete? Yes, I most certainly do, but at some point, are we blurring the lines between sport and politics and are those two lines melding together more than they should? Claire, I'll give you the first crack at that and then follow with Cameron. We've got about four minutes left on the clock.

Claire:
Yeah, I think you're right. I don't know how we're going to get there, but there's got to be a way of clearing those lines between are we making a political decision or are we actually moving forward with having the athletes in mind? Because at the end of the day, without the athletes, we don't have sports, we don't have the Olympic and Paralympic games and it just doesn't happen. Cam, your comment about Canada maybe protesting or striking, I hope that if decisions are made with that outcome that, again, that it's through athlete councils and having conversations that are coming directly from the athletes because there's enough organizations out there. I know within Canada, specifically, we do a really good job of making sure that there's platforms for athletes voices to be considered, and I really hope that no matter what else changes that stays at the forefront of all conversations moving forward with sport here in Canada and internationally.

Cam:
Yeah. I'm just going to read the Olympic Charter. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.

Speaker 2:
Here's what I'll say. As a former athlete, you do not need to rely on an Olympic committee or a Paralympic committee to make the decision for you. If you do not believe as an athlete that Russia or Belarus is standing for what Cameron just read, not once, but twice, and I did that on purpose, then you as an athlete can say, "No, I don't stand for that." You can boycott it if you choose that your morals and your values do or do not stand with what Cameron read. You do not need to wait for an organization as a whole to say, "We're going to do this or we are not." The fact of the matter is you have a decision as athletes, but the problem is, athletes want to compete so bad in their heart and soul that this is where the problem becomes, and that's why we need to rely on IOCs and IPCs to make the right decision.
That is the end of our show for this week. I would like to thank Cam Jenkins, Claire Buchanan. I'd also like to thank Marc Aflalo, our technical producer. Ryan Delehanty is our podcast coordinator. Tune in next week because you just never know what happens when you enter The Neutral Zone. Have a great week. Be safe. Be well.