OverDrive - Duthie on Keefe's return to Toronto, Matthews' point production and the meaning of the name Forbes

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

TSN Host James Duthie joined OverDrive to discuss the meaning of Forbes in his name, his day in Ottawa, Sheldon Keefe's return to Toronto against the Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews' production with the team, the stars on the roster and more.

Introducing Brian Adams Radio on I Heart Radio. Hosted by Brian Adams himself. Join me for an insider look on a wild ride through 40 years of global rock and roll. Brian Adams Radio. Now available on the free I Heart Radio app. Or ask your smart speaker to play Brian Adams Radio on I Heart Radio. So I need to know what happens and is it like family day when it's James Duthie day? Like is everyone off on James Duthie? It is a national holiday. Yeah. So you can do.

So kids in Ottawa But as part of like you get your family together, but you have to celebrate me in some way shape or form So in Ottawa like what goes on on James Duffy date? No people nobody goes to canal. There's a parade People have little signs with big heads of me things like that Yeah, they go to Blackburn Hamlet make a pilgrimage to my you know where I went to school that I'm a little bit well Hays was saying it is such a big league move when you say to the mayor I'm busy you come out to the rink and hand me the I couldn't that is something else I got is a bastard move the lies that you propagate on this on this program

why did he end up in Kanata at the ring? He just showed up. It was, first of all, very honored. Thank you Mayor Sutcliffe, whatever. I mean I think the whole city is absolutely sick of me. Like they're tired of me, they don't want me to come back ever again because it's been ridiculous the last couple years. So we're over with it except January 4th. Well, you where you will celebrate me every year, right? But

he just showed up like in the middle of I don't know if it was like the quarterfinals or something the Semifinals and like in the middle of a period were you there? You were gone, right? Canada was out already Yeah And he just the game was on and he just kind of gave me the plaque and they took some pictures and and it was About quarter to ten like my day was almost over. I'm like, well, I don't even get to enjoy my day. Yeah, come on, like why not? So, I don't know. That was cool though, like he posted the pics

and obviously you quote tweeted them and I just... Which is I know the quote tweet, Owen and I, we're not big fans of the quote tweet, but I only did it to like make a joke at my own expense. No, you have to, man. You have to. And I thought that was really, I thought it was a baller move to have him come out to Kanata to present you with that. I know you said I'm busy I'm not meeting you at town hall or anything like that. So get your ass to the rink and you guys maybe I got time in the third period.

The whole key to the city thing which you were kind enough to come up for and you know I made all my stupid friends and family members drive in for hours to come to this thing and there's a big ceremony with pipers and stuff and then Brooke Henderson like she just shows up at the you know the Canadian Women's Open was in Ottawa and they just handed to her before she walks to the tea kind of thing. So I'm like well I think I made a bigger deal out of this than I probably should have. Absolutely. All right do you want to address like Joe from the Bridge has been labeling you as Forbes on the show, like every time you're in here?

You know, Forbes, Duffy, what is happening here? I've tolerated the lies that have been told by one of the cast members of your program for years now. Buddy, I don't tell lies. I accept it. I don't. They're not lies, they're manipulations of truths of which he knows. So my middle name is Forbes. I have

the passports and stuff here. I'm not going to put my passport up on air, but my middle name is Forbes. What's the second one? My best friend. Tell the people the second one. Well, I don't want to bring that up. That's a different story. How many middle names do you have? My second middle name is Ryburn.

All right. Is that your mom's maiden name? My two grandfathers, Forbes and Ryburn. Old school, you know, Euro guys. So they were not rich, definitely. So I'm actually James Forbes the sixth, which is really embarrassing. That's when I got married, my wife is like, it ends here. Right, that's enough. It's over.

Okay. So my buddies call me Forbes. My best friends call me Forbes. So one of them comes up at the game and he meets Oh and he said, he's talking to me Forbes and I was like, why do you call him Forbes? And I'm like, well, my name is James Forbes Duffy and my best buddies just call me Forbes. So then he comes on this program and says, his name is Forbes Duffy. It's not even James.

That's exactly what happened. I went for lunch with one of your friends and he looks at me and he goes, Where's Forbes? And I literally my eyes popped out of my head. I go, why? What did you just say? And he goes, Where's Forbes? And I'm like, what are you talking about? He goes, and this is how he said, this is his other name. Everyone else calls him Jamie. No one calls this guy James. He goes, Jamie's real name is Ford and that's what I said oh man we need to get to the bottom my name on my birth certificate is James Forbes Duffy if I had met you when I was seven I would

have introduced myself as James my parents did call me Jamie so most of my friends through middle school high school people would call me Jamie but if I like my girlfriends would call me James because I would introduce myself as James and then when I went into the broadcasting I was of course James although I dabbled with Jake for a while when I was in radio but that's a whole other story. Anyway, then I find out this guy, this guy's giving me this whole forcing. Jake was pretty cool. I did it for like, I was like morning at the radio station at Carlton for like two months I said I gotta change my name and spice it up. So I'm gonna go with Jake

Was it like a top 40 thing like you know, I was just doing the news of the sports now It's time with Jake Duffy in the news Jake Duffy But then I find out this dude's middle name is Finnegan like Casey and I like Finnegan better Flanagan And he's he's labeling with the Forbes. I know so Flanagan here I might go by Flanagan on our belief pregame shows for the rest of the season. You should. I like that. Yeah, I like the multiple. I got multiple middle names. I got I'm old school. I got some old school like Scottish middle name. What do you got? My full name is Brian William Figgins Hay. Figgins and Flanagan? Figgins. That should be the radio show if if there's no

offense to noodles but if you ever get to promotion goes off somewhere it's the figans and flanagan show of that handled all i can think about with big and flanagan's flat festock there you go get fest chuck in here everything's all big and reeks of magnum p i sidekick with the dog his name is a good day yeah figans you don't hear often you know if the figans is a muppet a bit of with the dogs. His name was Higgins. Higgins. Higgins. Yeah, Higgins you don't hear often, you don't see often. Higgins is a muppet, a bit of a muppet.

Yeah, it's Scottish, I don't know, my mom's maiden name, so. But Ryburn is, you know, they got some weird, old school names in Scotland, right? They really do. Like, have you heard Ryburn ever in your life? I never have in my life. Never have. And so, no offense to my other grandfather, I never met him, he passed away before I was born. Both my grandfathers passed away before I was born both my grandfather's passed away before I was born

But I kind of dropped the Ryeburn and just went with the Forbes. Yeah, I like that, you know, Jake Jake Forbes man if you were Jake Duffy imagine guessing today on the Figgins and Flanagan show Jake Forbes Is just like 80s like a Radio guy doesn't it scream like Van Hal like running with it running with the why you know Jake Duffy is just like 80s, like it screams radio guy. Doesn't it scream like Van Hal, like running with the devil. Well you know my wife's name is Brooks and nobody can say Duffy and people call me Dutchie, God love Dutch even though they know that I'm not Dutchie but they can't say Duffy. And so I was saying I should have changed my name when we got married to Brooks because

like Jake Brooks, now we're talking. Now that's a sports catcher. Great handle. Forbes Brooks. Okay. Figgins Brooks. There's a lot of opportunities. Finnegan.

Finnegan, Flanagan, Fess Chuck. So you guys, you guys had the game the other night, you got the game tonight. How much of it is Keith's return? Like we were on the panel when they were playing in, New Jersey Like is that still a storyline for you? I think it is coming home It is in our pregame show a little bit tonight first of all because Masters gets to interview them and they've had some fun over The years you guys did the interview with him on the radio and Masters didn't get to interview him the last time they played I think Claire Hanna did it and

Sheldon had some fun there. I think I'm with you I feel like because they played already you know it's not a not a massive story would be more fun if it was the first game. I think you should get a good reception I think we're gonna ask that in the pregame you guys have probably talked about it. Yeah. I wouldn't see why he wouldn't get no you know a decent round of applause. Good coach, respectable guy. Went out classy way. Absolutely. That little speech he did on, you know, in Oakville or whatever the day after he got canned I think was as classy as it gets as far as exits.

So what more do you want? Yeah, well, maybe a cup and a few more playoff rounds. That would have gone a long way, but he's not alone there. No, exactly, exactly. There hasn't been a league coach to actually win it along the way. I think he'll get a really warm welcome and that's deserved. Yeah, and obviously the mood in the city a little bit a little bit unique recently. I mean they get booed a little bit on Saturday, they get booed the other night.

You get the players coming out like Willie and Marner, even Borubey, like Borubey said, you know, hey, boos happen and he liked their game the other night. Like he said that afterwards, you like their effort anyway. Does it feel like a powder keg to you? Is that too extreme? Like if they lose or lose bad tonight, does it start to get louder and darker? Yeah, and I think it's been unusual this season. I don't remember a season where there really weren't any crises pretty much all year. Usually by now, you know, it's the goaltending is a calamity or something's happened Besides the Matthews concerns over his injury

There's really been nothing all year and that speaks to the fact that they lost three in a row and regulation or whatever for the first time all year and Second time in three years, which is a ludicrous stat really because in this league, especially today like this league is league especially today. This league is more nuttier as far as predicting games like the Wild will beat the Golden Knights 4-0 one night and then lose to the Blackhawks. The league makes no sense anymore. So to go that long without a losing streak I think is a pretty impressive stat. So I think because of that when you play, I didn't agree with Perubia that they played well

the other night. He knows more about hockey than me, but it was a pretty terrible game to watch. You know, the way they've played, I think, is the more concerning thing. And I think the biggest thing, and O's going to get into it on the pregame show, and he probably did on this show already, is just the offense. The biggest question for the Leafs this year is, you know, can they continue to play this more improved defensive hockey, playoff type hockey, but actually score? biggest question of the least this year you know can they continue to play this you know more improved defensive hockey playoff type hockey but actually score

is there just the games are man just doing the games on t v there there's a lot of low-event games yes different which i i'm not criticizing the style that's what you gotta do to win may become playoff time it'll pay off but you gotta find some way to just generate more while you are doing that right? Right well that that is I think what they're they're risking and it's worth the risk to put this put these new

details and these new systems and this new approach into action so that it pays off in the spring there's an elite fan alive that wouldn't accept that. Edmonton is an example. Exactly do whatever you have to through 82 games we've had ups and downs and roller coasters and it's been fun and then they fall flat in the playoffs, find a way to make it work in the playoffs, but if it doesn't, you are risking it feeling so stale and it being such a forgettable bland season if it doesn't pay off Yeah, if they go out and lose games 3-1, two to nothing in the playoffs and then you have to re question everything

That's how they always lose in the playoffs right? Yeah, it's always to right exactly But if that if that continues, you know, you're there will be a lot of questioning clearly and they're gonna face that anyway Regardless of the style they're playing during the regular season They they're well aware of that funny thing is the Devils are going through the same crap right now, right? They've lost six of eight and I think they've scored, I don't know, they've scored like two goals or less than two goals a game the last seven or eight. So again, just the reminder that this stuff goes on in other markets too. Yeah, that's supposed to be a really offensive team, like not the old Devils anymore and they're going through the same sort of scoring drought.

The Leafs are going through over a longer period of time. So well the Oilers didn't have an issue putting up Goals last night. They beat Minnesota 5-3. They're in Colorado tonight and McDavid now has 62 points on the season McKinnon's got 70 McKinnon's in the lead right now. How would you handicap the Art Ross race? lead right now. How would you handicap the Art Ross race? Every other year I would say I'd still put everything on McDavid. I just don't know that he cares about it at all this year, at all. Like I just don't think that it matters to him one iota. And so down the stretch if you know if they get to first in their division or whatever and that's secure, is he really going for anything?

It's the same thing that I felt about Matthews this year before he got hurt, that he wouldn't care if he scored 35 goals because the playoffs were all that mattered after the year he had last year. So, that's a tough one. I think Nate's maybe hungrier, so I guess I'd go McKinnon this year just So that's a tough one. I think Nate's maybe hungrier so I think I guess I'd go McKinnon this year just for that reason. Yeah. Just because I don't think McDavid cares at all. James you talk about Forbes, you talk about Ryburn. Ryman. Ryburn. Ryburn. Sorry. RYE. Somebody did say Jake Forbes is a great

name. It's a great adult film name jake forbes jakey orbs jimmy way to take a look at jakey talk about math and i agree with you you've come to the point in the history of franchise where nobody's impressed by the individual regular season stats nobody cares if he

wins another rocket reported but it's not meaningful given they haven't created any meaning in the playoffs. But with that said, like when you look at this guy, and you've watched a lot of his games, you've done a lot of his games, do you see in his play, the potential to be a dominant playoff player? Because I just I haven't seen that kind of stuff from him on a regular

basis and that's my eyes I mean and you're not wrong we've seen eight years or whatever but he hasn't been a don't we always complain about them in the summer and then somebody puts out numbers to say their playoff numbers aren't that bad Matthew like points and Marner and such well technically but but not that bad is a low bar right for what we should he should be dominant almost 50% of the players score goal scorer in the playoffs Yeah, I mean, I think it's a fair comment because we're what year is he nine year nine? Yeah, they're all in my career Yeah, can you change it that do you suddenly become a playoff star?

He looks diminished injury wise doesn't he to me. I mean to me anyway, well, he didn't look at like he does You're right. I think with the first three games he came back he looked pretty good. And that's the whole Four Nations chat again. Like if I'm a Leaf fan, I don't want any part of him playing in that even if they say he's healthy. I get it, he's probably going to play, doesn't have an injury. It'd be nice to see him play against McDavid and Marner and so on.

But would you much rather him go sit on a beach and get physio every day? Totally. There's a separation. If you're a fan, if you're a member of the team, I don't think you want, maybe none of your guys to go, but certainly not a guy who's blatantly laboring here. But in terms of the greater good of the sports, if you're trying to make the event actually significant, you kind of have to

have guys willing to play through stuff. But isn't this going to be the weirdest, like the Olympics is different, I think, because we're all vested in Canada. But do you not think that all of these fan bases, so all the Leaf fans are going to be watching this thing, you know, cheering for Canada to an extent, but more so praying that Marner and Matthews, if Matthews is playing, don't get hurt. And if you're an Oilers fan, that's all you're watching, is make sure McDavid doesn't get hurt, and McKinnon and so on and so forth. I think that

the fan interest in this tournament is going to be as much about, please don't let my guy get hurt, as it is about, can Canada beat Sweden, Finland, or whatever. I think it's going to be a very anxious sporting event. The most highest anxiety. Yes, big time. Basically exhibition event that you could see. And again, I'm not trying to knock the event. I'm looking forward to watching it.

It's worth a shot. They're trying something. And I think they're going to try and these guys do care about it. But man, if you lose one of those guys for the rest of the season in that, like I mean you can it's tough enough in an Olympics But in that it's gonna be really hard to take it'll be very difficult. Yeah for sure All right, we got Leafs Devils tonight on TSN. It'd be a fun one tonight Figgins. Yes, Finnegan

You just Jake Forbes people are throwing up are. You just... Jake Forbes. People are throwing up on their drive home right now. Hot! Coming in hot. Excuse me ma'am, I heard your fridge isn't working. I love your mustache, Jake Forbes. I'm going to go into my truck and see if I have a screw. Enjoy yourself. There Enjoy yourself. There he is. Jake Forbes. What? Stop it!