OverDrive - OverDrive - August 25, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jason Strudwick and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Blue Jays' series against the Marlins, Shane Bieber's debut with the team and how Toronto's starting rotation is shaped going into the final stretch of the season. They also dive into Shedeur Sanders' performance in the preseason with the Browns, Auston Matthews' disapproval from the media, the season trajectory with the Maple Leafs and Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum joins to discuss Brooke Henderson's win at the CPKC Women's Open.

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Brian Hayes, Dave Festch, and there's Jason Strudwick. What's happening, boys? How are we doing this afternoon? You got Oasis fever in Toronto strutty? Do people in Edmonton care that Oasis is avoiding Edmonton? and sticking to Toronto, which is a sure sign the McDavid's coming next. What are the Gallagher brothers? What's their name?

Yeah, the Gallagher brothers. And what we're witnessing, because last night, they're here tonight. They were here last night out at Rogers Stadium, which has the worst reputation of any infrastructure in the history of mankind. Yes. In terms of a first impression. Like, no one likes this place. The acts don't like it. Chris Martin, Nicole, I didn't like it, but it was raining last night, and I'm noticing

that some people online are complaining that the crowds weren't crazy enough. I was reading about that this afternoon compared to some of the UK crowds, and what I'm curious about, you guys can speak to it because we're all kind of in the same range. Oasis, like the band members are like 60, right? It's not 1996 anymore, right? Like, we're not at some festival in the UK in the mid-90s. everyone's in their 40s and 50s and 60s. It's raining and they've got to go to work tomorrow.

What do you expect? We're trying to have a good time, right? Like people are having a good time. But we're really going to start freaking out as a city that maybe the crowd wasn't as good as it wasn't Cardiff, you know, a month and a half ago. And tonight's crowd better be much better. I'm noticing that that's trending online, which to me, again, seems a little bit ridiculous, considering how old the band is, let alone the average fan that would be in a number. attendance. Well, Strudia, if I'm, I'm explaining this to anybody. I blame soccer culture, right?

Or footy culture in UK because, like, you watch that footage from their UK stops in whatever, whether it was Wembley or Manchester or Cardiff, as you point out, Hayes. Like, it's, it's like a bunch of soccer hooligans who've, who've kind of rediscovered their youth, even though they are all 50 and 60, maybe even 70, some of them. But they were doing, like, they do all these chance and they, and they, and they put their arms around each other and they turn their back to the stage and they jump up and down in unison and we just don't do that no you know anywhere in our culture here in canada let alone an oasis concert we don't do it at hockey games we don't do it at football games so they do it at soccer games and and that's what we're seeing when we see oasis crowds acting like animals when

they got to go to work the next day yeah so i i never liked that song shamping subernova i never liked it i found it to be whiny um so i never kind of got into that band but But correct member, right, do they have a lot of bangers? Like, do they have any songs that really get you going? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Do they forever's a great song. You know, Wonderwall is a classic.

Oh, Wonderwall. This is how, again, I think, I like Oasis a lot. I'm a fan, and I was kind of my wheelhouse. When they came out the mid-90s, you know, I was really getting into music. Wonderwall, they are so old that Wonderwall has now become a TikTok sensation for, like, teenagers. Right? Yeah. Like, that's, they are the equivalent of.

when I was a kid, what the Beatles represented. Like, that's how they were popular 30 years ago. You know, like, it's just, it's one of those things. Like, yeah, I see the crowds, and that's amazing, and good for you over in Manchester. Go for it. That's their hometown. I don't know. It seemed like people had a good time last night.

Hey. Why are we breaking down what they were supposed to do as opposed to just saluting the fact that, to my knowledge, no one got caught having an affair last night. There you go. Right. So that's a good start. Yeah. And you take it from there.

Yeah, and I think that's the one thing you can respect about Oasis. They made hay off the cold play thing, and they said, hey, we're not out here trying to catch anybody. We're not doing kiss cams, you know, like, you're fine, do whatever you want at our shows. You can bring whoever you want. We're not putting you on the spot with stupid camera gigs. But I saw it, to the Wonderwall point, Hayes, I saw the Maple Leaf social media folks were making some hay with Joseph Wall, my Wonderwall, W-O-L-L, when they were playing. playing that last night so you know there's at least a little bit of enthusiasm for the for the show sure you know listen i know a lot of people there my neighbor's going he's jacked and uh my cousin was there

last night i was talking to him like they had a party bus going like it's it's a it's going to be a great show it'll be a great show tonight i'm sure it was a great show last night and there's a lot going on up here man i i was out at the women's open on saturday which was electric and made a very amateur move that actually worked out in my favor in the end I had the opportunity to go either Saturday or Sunday. And I chose Saturday thinking, not knowing that Brooke Henderson was going to win the tournament. You know, like when I made the choice, it was like a week before. I said, let's do Saturday, a little bit easier to figure out.

Probably won't be as crazy in terms of the crowds. I brought my oldest with me. First time she had been out to the tournament. Tournament was spectacular. Mississaug is a great course. I had not been there, like beautiful, beautiful place. And the LPJ puts on a great show, Gulf Canada. A lot of the people working there and the volunteers are the volunteers for the RBC Canadian Open.

So a lot of people I had seen over the years when we've been at the RBC Canadian Open, we're at the Women's Open. And yet then Brooke Henderson ends up winning it. My daughter's like, well, why didn't we go, son? I'm like, I don't know. I think so here I am thinking, dad of the year, let's go out Saturday, like see all the people, walk around, Brooks Brigade, all that kind of stuff. And then it turns out I made the wrong call.

And I was supposed to be there. I should have been there on Sunday. I was there, Hayes. I was there on Sunday once you won it. And it was a great day. And, yeah, you've robbed your daughters of a very special memory. I did. But nice work.

But here's the benefit quickly. Let me finish. Because I brought on Saturday, they wanted to go golfing yesterday. There you go. So I pulled the old, let's go golfing, and then we'll go on the clubhouse, grab a bite and watch Brooke come home down the stretch, which actually worked out brilliantly for me. So I got to actually play a little bit yesterday and Watchbrook Henderson and Tommy Fleetwood. No more top 10 Tommy. RIP, one of my favorite names. Top

10 Tommy Fleetwood, it's gone. You can't call him that anymore. Fairway Jesus has risen. That's right. He's a lot. That was something, man. Yeah, it really was. That was something. But no, genius moved by you. Struddy, don't you love that move by Hayes? He's, not to say that I told you to do it, but like, like, I've always instructed, you know, my younger friends with young kids that if you if you have any interest in ever golfing again and your wife's you don't want your wife to be resenting your golf you must get your daughter into golf to the point where it becomes hey honey she wants to go exactly and i think you're there you're getting there hey pulled it off yesterday i'm very proud of myself that's the ultimate move i have three kids and are all into golfing

now and so we all go and my wife is not the best she's the worst of the five of us and the kids will be like is mom coming i'm like yeah like oh they just lose it right and And I'm like, hey, hey, hey, that's still my wife, you know, like, take it easy. But, I mean, as far as going on Saturday, I get it. I get it sometimes it's easier with kids to not try to battle it out. But that was fun. I'd tell you, she was building momentum all tournament. And you just felt like I went to bed Saturday and I'm like, she's going to win this thing Sunday.

Like, she's just coming. And what a way to close it out and the shots she made. And, man, I was happy for her and Tommy, but really happy for Brooke. Really happy for Brooke Anderson. And what it is doing here is there's this. continuation of these incredible Canadian sports stories. Now, it's too bad. Vicky and Boko's

already lost. She's already out of the U.S. Open. You know, her first match, she's out, straight sets. So that story comes to a halt for a bit. Doesn't mean it won't resume in the future. I'm sure it will. She's very young. But Brooke Anderson wins on Canadian soil. Obviously, Vicki and Boko, she wins

on Canadian soil. We've got Sheaildedish Alexander is not the face of the NBA, but had the best season of anybody in the NBA last year wins the MVP, finals MVP, Oklahoma City, you know, they obviously win the championship. You've got Summer McIntosh doing what she's doing in terms of amateur sports. She's probably the queen of that right now, you know, probably the most prominent, you know, non-professional athlete going right now.

And what I found interesting is we've got a dynasty that's somewhat developing in the NHL. And I would argue the faces of that are an American in Matthew. of Finn and Sasha Barcove and a Russian and Sergey Bobrovsky. Maybe I'm the only one that finds that interesting. But all these great Canadian sports stories, the Blue Jays, who are filled, you know, not of Canadians, although Vlad's Canadian.

He's back in the lineup tonight. We'll get to that. Jays are a huge story clearly in 2025, and they're still writing that story. Yet, you know, hockey has been a sport that we've kind of owned forever, and I think we will continue to own, and I know the four nations took place in 25, and that was a very prominent story.

yet it's really been a non-hockey sports year, you know, for the most part. Now, it would have been different, no offense, Strutt, if the Oilers won, that would have been massive and would be a completely different story today. But they didn't. And if the Panthers keep kind of running the show in the NHL, yes, Reinhard's Canadian and Bennett and Eckblad and Paul Maurice, but I would say they're three quote-unquote marquee guys are non-Canadians. And it's kind of interesting how this has developed.

Well, can't, yeah, in San Bennett's defense, he's got the Kahn Smy. He does. He's a good Canadian boy, and he brought it back home, brought the Cup home. Yeah, there's a lot of good Canadian guys on the team. But you're right, Hayes, like, we saw another year where we, you know, circa 1993, there hasn't been a Canadian team to win the Cup. And, you know, who knows when that, you know, terrible, shameful, embarrassing national tragedy of a drought is going to end.

But you hope it's going to be sooner rather than later. But you can't be sure of it. can't be sure of it and uh but you're right like there's no we're we have no shortage of incredible stories around this sports world and it is kind of interesting that we can't really call ourselves the masters of the hockey domain right now because look we got to win the Olympic gold medal that's going to be significant which is you know very probable but even if you win the Olympic gold the idea that you know you haven't won a cup is is a tough one to tough one to swallow for everybody.

Yeah, but I think, guys, we've got to get a perspective. There are Canadians on all the teams have won this thing. Of course. It's not all the players from Florida are playing on Florida or whatever. So it's a little bit different. I think you can only grade, well, not only, but one of the ways you can't grade is how you do in the international tournaments, right? So I think the Olympics does matter. I think that the Four Nations Cup does matter if we're going by countries.

Because, I mean, Sidney Cross, think of all the captains of teams that have been winning in the last 15, 20 years. So many are Canadian, but they just don't happen to play in Canada. Now, for sure, it's been a long time since the Canadian teams won. But, I mean, Austin Matthews is the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. So, you know, is he purposely trying to lose because he's not from Canada? You know what I mean? Like, I don't think that – I think you lose a little bit of, you know, the momentum here when you look at it that way.

I think it's international tournaments. That's where it's best on best, and we find out which country is the top. Yes, and I would agree with that. And I guess, you know, I'm not trying to – a slag, you know, Canadian hockey. I guess what I'm trying to do is prop up all these other incredible stories. Yeah, fair point. Historically, our country, you could always rely on, well, you know, we don't have this,

we don't have that. There's no one in tennis. There's no one in golf. You got a hockey team, though, or a hockey guy or a hockey champion or a hockey heart winner, whatever it is. And it's just kind of interesting what is happening in the NHL with, you know, Canadian players in particular, although there's a ton of them on the Panthers team, clearly. And that actually is interesting about the leaves.

you know, if you could ever allow yourself to imagine them winning, it's Matthews probably Willie now that Marner's gone, and maybe whoever the starting goalie would be, which would be an American. Yeah. Like there won't be a prominent Canadian there. Like Riley, you presume, would be on it, and Tavaros would factor in,

and there'd be other Canadians, clearly. And that's just, you know, the nature of the sport. And I want to touch on Matthews and some of the slander that I've noticed that some people are directing him in his direction or sending in his direction about where he might rank, among centers in the league. And we'll get to that a little bit later this afternoon. But Vladdy's back in the lineup tonight,

and the Jays are back home. They took two of three over the weekend. Shures are on the mound tonight. Shane Bieber on Friday night. Like there's another moment over the course of the season that has been a great season, a thoroughly entertaining one, and one with very, very memorable moments.

Where's that rank for you? Like, that's pretty high on my list. Like, that's about as cool as he can get because he pitched so well. Like he looked incredible on Friday night. I think the only thing you really say about that performance that's not particularly complimentary is it was against the Marlins, which is, you know, you were pitching in AAA and now, you know,

okay, you've played in quadruplea now against the Marlins. Let's see how you do in your first major league start, right? But, you know, the Marlins, you know, to be fair, they're probably middle of the road, right? Maybe a little below middle of the road, but he was just, he was electric. I mean, you couldn't have asked for a better start to, to begin this incredible, what was it, 507-day journey from Tommy John to back to the major leagues.

And, you know, Hayes, we were saying when you were gone last week, that, you know, it says a lot about the Blue Jays that they're counting on this. They want this. They need this. If they're going to kind of fulfill the potential of this season, they need Bieber to be a potential, if not a lock number one. and he's on track right now to be that. Yeah, he goes, he's one for one.

You know, I mean, you got to give him his next start, which is likely against Milwaukee. So that is no longer a, you know, quad A ball team you're going to be playing on the weekend. But, yeah, that seemed to have been the plan. The way Schneider reacted afterwards would suggest that that's precisely what they're thinking is this is going to be our guy. Perrios is going in the wrong direction, right?

Lauer, to no fault of his own, even though now they're into a six-man rotation, he's going to pitch. this week or start this week is clearly the odd man out, you know, based on tenure, based on contractual obligations. That's what makes it complicated for burrios is they're all in on burrios. Like they still have a huge commitment to him. And he's pitched relatively well throughout his tenure here.

And he's, he never misses a start. Literally never misses a start. All he does is show up every fifth day at pitch. So there's value in that. But I do believe when they made that deal, Dave, you and I were on when they acquired them. almost live, and I think we both had the same response. I thought it was a great decision to go for the high-end upside that Beaver can bring. Now, one start does not guarantee it will still be there in a month, right?

He's running on adrenaline. He looks great. By all accounts, his arm, again, is fine. It's recovered, fine. He's going to go back out there and pitch when he's prepared to pitch, and now he's in the rotation. But I do think he got to give him three, four, five starts before you really know where his stop. is at, where his stamina is that? That's just being fair to the player.

Like, Stride, you can speak to it. Coming back from a long layoff, you're running on crazy adrenaline, I'm sure, getting back out there. And at some point, a week or two later, it settles in where you're like, oh, I'm back in the big leagues, and I've got to continue to perform here. And there's going to be some days where that adrenaline isn't available to you, and that's when you really got to prove who you are. No, for sure.

And I think, you know, also you factor in that it's a new team. So he's tested out his new arm. he's got a new team, all that excitement, and he wants to do well for the new team. He wants to show the guys that he's a guy that can be to count on and trusted on. But I think maybe what, and I know Steve, I think it was Steve Phelps last week that spoke a bit about that. I think that what maybe makes us different is the time of the year. He does have that many more starts before the playoffs are there. And he wants to make sure he has his stuff going.

So, you know, I don't know that there will be a huge letdown or a potential of a really big letdown because you only know he has, what is the most number starts he can have between now and the end? four starts, five starts. Yeah, like six starts, five or six more starts. So, you know, you can't just throw one of those away because you're hoping that, let's say it's six starts, your seventh one is game one of the, you know, of the playoffs. So I think that I don't know if he'll have that same letdown because this isn't like, you know, April 20th.

Yeah, and the intensity is not going to drop around the team, right? Like, again, when the Brewers roll in town on the weekend, that is a massive series. And they're in New York in, what, 10 days? They got the Red Sox still to play. Like, there's, it's crunch time now. It's almost September. Like, we're into September in less than a week. So he's aware of that what I find, you know, someone consistent in terms of these conversations where you roll it over is the next guy that we're going to continue to chat about us, who's on a mount tonight.

And it sure is her who's been great. And I'd love to get a candid answer from Atkins or Shapiro or Schneider or Walker, whomever, you know, got the gavel in terms of making the decision on who's going to get the ball in the playoffs, does he now, has he pitched well enough, because he's been really good recently, to simply just stay healthy the rest of the way and he's pitching, or does he have to continue to perform? Because those can be, those are, those are, can be mutually exclusive. Like they don't, it's not the same connection.

You know, like Gosman, Bassett, Barrios, for sure. Burrios is not pitching in the play or not starting in the playoffs unless he pitches phenomenally well the rest of the way. If he's pitching the way he has been the last month, month and a half, there's no way he's getting a start for this team. What if Scherzer hits a bump in the road? What if over his final five starts

he's got a 450 ERA and it's okay, but not great but healthy? Is he still pitching game two? Or does he have to perform? I don't have an answer for that. I'm not sure they have an answer when it comes to a guy like that because it's more aura-driven and, right, historically,

data-driven of who, who he is and what he represents, and he's a bulldog, and that's why we paid him $15 million was for October, not for April. Right. Okay. Well, let's see what he's got the rest of the way. Yeah, I think a lot of it, obviously, if he falls off a cliff performance-wise, that would be a problem.

But nobody sees that coming. Like, I was just looking at it, he's three-in-one with a 1.8 ERA in the month of August. Unreal. I mean, the guy is just on fire. Yeah, he's on fire. So, but to me, you know, even if you had a couple of hiccough, performances where he gave up a couple of home runs and he wasn't quite himself down the stretch.

They're going to defer to the aura you talk about Hayes. Like the oral will win the tie. And I do think this is a pennant race down the stretch here with 31 games to go and they got to keep, you know, they got to beat back the Red Sox and Yankees. They got to make sure they don't slip

because you want to win the East and that's very important. But as much as a dependent race, it's also a tryout for a lot of these guys. Like it's a tryout to see who's going to be the top three pitchers in the rotation and it's a tryout for who they can trust in the bullpen and guess what there's a lot of guys right now who they probably can't trust in the bullpen and uh game saturday night the game saturday is a perfect encapsulation of when it's going your way it's really going your way

and when it's going against you it's really going against you because last year they were on the opposite side of we've never seen anything like this before losses right now it seems they've had They've had multiple, we haven't seen this in modern baseball wins over the last month. Like the one in L.A. Where Flew Hardy came in and struck out Otani and then got out bets. Never seen that before. The guy comes in and gets out two, you know, form MVPs. And then on Saturday, I saw the tweet and I was posting about it because I'm like,

this is just, this is so typically 2025 Blue Jays that the Jays are the only team and, only MLB team in modern era to blow a lead in the 19. 10th, 10th, and 11th innings, but still win the game. Amazing. Never happened before. And they would have done that the opposite way last year. It would have been the first team ever to, you know, blow leads in the 8th, 9th, 11th, and lose or whatever. And now it's breaking their way.

And it can be the thinest margin. But when you have things going your way and you feel good and you've got talent and you've got winning pedigree and you've got a clubhouse that's kind of pulling on the chain together, then this is what you get, Strud. You get a lot of wins. You do, and I, you know what, I mean, I know luck is a big thing in sports. People talk about, but I think what happens if you keep doing the right thing over and over again, the luck goes your way because you've been repeatedly doing the right thing.

So that's not just on the field. That's the way you start your day, the way the Schneider's going to get the group playing, batting practice, all that kind of stuff, knowing different situations, what you're going to do. And then eventually you keep doing it. I believe you get luck to bend in your direction. So, you know, when I see these guys, play it feels like they're you know they have the right approach they're going out there trying to try to do the right thing at every area of that bat when they get on base all that stuff and it

you're gonna you're gonna get those breaks i don't believe it's just random it's not just a coin toss it depends on which team is doing those little things and people call it the details but they do really matter yeah you talk about luck actually it's funny we you know you look at brook henderson she was a perfect example of that on sunday where you know she played really well and she clutched up, that put on 17, you know, to put the birdie in on top of Minji Lee after Minji Lee makes a really beautiful birdie to pull even and Brooke maintains the one-struck lead head, not 18. That's a career defining one of the clutches puts you can make a 15-footer. It was the furthest thing from a gimmie and she nailed it. But you think about that round,

she hit three trees on three separate holes and she part all those holes. Like the one on 12, Like that thing was, I was standing there. She hit that thing so far right. And it somehow hits a tree and comes back into the first cutter rough where she's got a clear shot and she makes a par. It could have been absolute disaster. That could have been that tournament right there because Minji Lee is world number four. She is absolutely, you know, the type of person you do not want to give an opening like that. But you know what?

To your point, Strady, like, you know, she did all the right things. It wasn't like she lucked into it, but she needed some luck to win it. Yep. Yeah. And over the course of four rounds, right? And over the course of 162 games or whatever, it's going to equal out in some ways with other players. But to both of your points, who can take advantage of that?

Who can take advantage of maybe getting a break or earning the break? And that's what Brooke Anderson did, you know, multiple times. Sure, she got a break. But then the next one, she could have hit a poor shot. Yeah. She recalibrated and said, I believe in myself and I'm going to get this done. So just an incredible scene out of Mississauga yesterday. yesterday. We'll get into that a little bit later this hour. Tommy Fleetwood winning the

Tour Championship, which is a great, great story. Jay's back in action tonight. We got the U.S. Open cooking down in New York, a really weird scene last night that we'll touch on Dano Medvedev and the whole camera gate and what was going on there at Center Court. So more on that a little bit later this afternoon. I'm hoping that Austin Matthews is listening to the outside noise. I'll tell you why I'm hoping that he's doing that. We'll get into that a little bit later this hour, too. Struddy's in here, Dave Festruck. I'm Brian Hayes.

Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN2. Overdrive continues. Powered by Fanduo, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Some news down at the dome, the Jay's in action tonight that Anthony Santanderas in Toronto and he's progressed to hitting off high-velocity pitching machines.

So that's kind of an interesting development, end of August, and Santander is maybe getting to a point where he can return, possibly. I mean, I would think he's still weeks away from maybe being activated or at least, you know, having a rehab stint, but even those are coming to an end soon, right? Like, how long can you really get down to the minors and play now that we're in the end of August? If he's healthy, I mean, how long would he really need, you know, give him a week down in Buffalo and get him back up here?

And obviously, you felt you needed the bat in the office. season, not much has changed. I mean, you could really use the bat. If he's healthy and ready to roll, there's no reason you wouldn't want him around. Yeah, at least an option off the bat, switch hitting power bat that, you know, maybe. What will be interesting is to see how Vladdy recovers here. It does seem like this injury was very minor. You know, he missed a short period of time.

He's back to aging tonight. He's been running the bases. But, you know, the acquisition of Thai France, which felt kind of like a throw-in with the Varlane deal, he's playing. he's played pretty well you know and he's if laddie's not going to be able to play first base france is going to likely play depending on you know who's pitching for the opposition but uh it does you know possibly open the door for a lot of options here if santander can't play so we'll get into that and more with steve phillips in just over half an hour mercifully the NFL preseason

that's enough moving on it's over but now like we're real close to go time man we're like away from opening night. It's going to be amazing in Philly next Thursday. But this Shador Sanders story, something's going to break here now, right? Like we've hit the fork in the road. Are you going to make the team or not? And I know Stafansky and the Browns are like, oh, we're cool with having four quarterbacks. No one's keeping four quarterbacks. No chance. Flacco's going to start. Dylan Gabriel, I don't know what he's going to be in the future. I don't know if he's got a shot at playing at all in the NFL. But by all accounts, based on what I've seen, based on what I've read out of Cleveland.

He had a better camp than Sanders. And now the conspiracy theories are out there that they're trying to sabotage Shador and all that, even though they're the only team that drafted him in the fifth round. What about the other 31 teams that were like, no, thank you? And this is probably exactly why, because of this gong show that he's a fifth round pick and people are suggesting that the offensive lines are throwing coverage away so that he will look poor. Kevin Stavansky, their head coach,

who has won multiple Coach of the Year awards in Cleveland. All right? He would think this guy would have a pretty significant reputation throughout football and a pretty elevated respect level. Again, taking some daggers. He was asked about the idea that the Browns are somehow trying to sabotage Shadour, and here's what he had to say about that. Obviously, I don't, I don't,

concern myself with outside type of things but I'm committed to his development just like all of our rookies so we'll continue to focus on getting our guys better and that's what we'll stay committed to and that's what's important

to me. That's pretty good answer I think, right? I think it's important to emphasize he's a rookie. He's never played a regular season game in the NFL. Yeah. They look at him that way. And look, judging from the preseason stuff we've seen, I mean, this guy took five sacks. He held on the ball, onto the ball way too long again and again and again.

And that's not uncommon for guys to come out of college, right? Like it takes time to understand that the NFL is not college football and that if you had time in college, you do not have time in the NFL. And you cannot be fooling around in the pocket or out of the pocket holding onto the ball like sure Sanders was the other night. And there's a reason why he looked as bad as he did through, you know, he just, he couldn't make anything happen. He couldn't make the decisions quickly enough. That's not the, you know, the Cleveland Brown sabotaging him.

That's, that's him looking like a fifth round pick. Yeah. Just any old fifth round pick. For the famous name from a famous family. And that's what makes it such a compelling story, which I understand. But, you know, any other quarterback that goes in the fifth round that plays like that, it's expected. Yeah.

And it's probably expected that he's going to be on the practice squad, you know, and not make the team. Yeah, so, you know, this is always the risk of taking a high profile name or person that maybe doesn't have the same skill set as what that fanfare is all about. And you have to answer a lot of questions as a coach about someone who, you know, isn't really should be taking up a lot of your airspace here for, we're the interviews of players. And so I think the challenge for, I don't give Cleveland credit, they're going to try to develop them or spend time like they just talked about it. But he is at that level. That is where he is. He's not an immediate coach's, I've got to think about this guy every day.

You want him improve and kind of just go and do his thing, and you hope that he pushes into whatever third, fourth or, sorry, first or second spot here at some point. But that's why I think a lot of teams avoided it. It's just, unless you're super elite with a name like that, it's a lot of work for, with, you know, a risk of any kind of return at all, boys. Well, the next one will be Arch Manning, right? The most famous name you can have is a quarterback outside of the name Brady.

But, yeah, when he gets here, but he's likely going to go in the top five. But if he drops like this, it'll be a circus again. You know, it'll be the same kind of story if he proves that he's not capable of doing it. But Stefansky, he used the line that everyone uses. Generally, it's not accurate. You know, I don't listen to the outside noise. They're aware of the outside noise. They might not be seeking the outside noise.

They know the outside noise, right? And teams in the modern era, based on my experience, they have people working for them that are tracking the outside noise, you know, that know exactly what's being said, exactly what's being contemplated or reported, and they're all aware of it. It doesn't mean they're overly consumed by it,

but they're aware of it. But it's a cliche that he used. Don't listen to the outside noise. I got it. I would like to see Austin Matthews do the complete opposite this year. I don't know if you guys have been seeing it. The NHL Network, using them as an example. Other lists are out there,

but the network, they come out with their top 10, top 20 centers, top 20 wingers, top 20 defensemen. And there have been a couple lists from guys who've been on the show a lot, guys that we like, guys that are NHLers, respected players, respected analysts, that have him further down the list than he's ever been in his career. Again, not way down the list, not 15th or 17th. But Mike Rupp said, quote,

he would take a healthy Jack Hughes over Austin Matthews. and he had Hughes ahead of him. I believe he had point ahead of him. They all had Barkoff ahead of him. Brian Boyle, who was his teammate his rookie year when he was acquired here in Toronto. He had him sixth, I believe, on the list. I think Matthews was seventh on Rupp's list.

And that's as low as he's ever been. And I'd like to see, I'm not going to hold my breath based on what he's shown through nine years in terms of his disposition, in terms of his approach. I've never really seen him angry, ever. But I'd love for him to show up with a chip on his shoulder and say, all right, you guys think like last year that was me or you think because Mitch is in Vegas, I can't pull my weight anymore, I can't be the best goal score in the league or a dominant center. Okay, watch it because I would like to believe this is very inspiring for him.

It's pretty clear there's a community in the NHL. Maybe it's a majority of the NHL looking at him saying, what do you got, man? Not expecting him to fall of a cliff, still expecting him to be a great player. But it was, you know, like a couple years ago, it was McDavid was clear-cut number one, and it was like he was probably number two when he scored 69. It wasn't him. It was McKinnon and Drysettle.

Those were the four. Like those were the guys. Now, Barkov's ahead of them. Again, Eichol is a great player. Nikol's a winner. Eichael has the ring, which I understand. Point is a winner, and he's won multiple times. But I hope he comes in.

I'd love to see it. Almost day one. I've been listening. I've seen everybody's list. I'm listening to the outside noise, and I'm going to show you exactly what I'm made of this year. I think it's a huge opportunity for him to do that. It's massive, Hayes.

You're right. You have to hope that he hears it. Sometimes he gives you the impression that he's above it all. He doesn't listen to it. He's not concerned with it. He's going to do his thing. Well, if his thing is another 33-goal season, if his thing is scoring four goals in his most recent 18 playoff games,

guess what that's the reason why his thing is being ranked seventh behind those guys because all those guys ranked ahead of him on that list Hayes you know McKinnon Barkov, Krosby, Eichol depending on which list you're looking at those guys have been ranked ahead of them in some of these preseason lists they've all won cups and then the other two McDavid and Drysidal they haven't won the cup but nobody doubts that they've been clutched playoff performers right they've got they're historically clutch in terms of producing the playoffs

and Matthews is not that guy. So why would he want to be, why would he be grouped among those guys when the most fresh thing in everybody's mind is the fact that his team, the team he captains, did not show up to win game three, which they had a strangle hold on against Florida, didn't show up for game five, didn't show up for game seven,

and let a great opportunity to beat a team that won the Stanley Cup get off the hook. So to me it makes sense why he's ranked like that, but I'm with you, Hayes would be great to see him take it personally to use Michael Jordan's old phrase, but he's never really taken anything personally, as far as I can tell. So where'd you have him ranked, Hayes?

Who would you have them? Can we agree it's McKinnon, Barkoff, Crosby, dry-sidal and McDavid, are those five? Sid, to me, though, you've got to consider where Sid is in his career. Like, for me, like, I know Sid, you know, I'm his biggest booster, you know, one of them. I love Sid.

I've said, I think he's had a greater career than McDavid, you know, if you want to get into that conversation, you've got one big game tonight. I'm taking Sid over anyone else in the last 20 years. I'm not, that includes McDavid, McKinnon, Drive Settle, I don't care who. But he's 38 years old now. He's on an awful team that hasn't played meaningful hockey in two years. So, you know, I think Sid gets the bump because that's a respect play.

Like, he's still great. He's still putting up big numbers. He was really good in the Four Nations. But clearly McDavid, Dris Saddle McKinnon are one, two, three. for me, clearly. I think Barcove deserves to be ahead of him now. I think you have to, based on the way he's played in the playoffs, although I will say this, that team, the last couple of years,

what have we always said about why they win? Their depth, not Barcoff dragging them there. He isn't dragged them, right? He doesn't want to con Smyth. He's been very good. He's a very, very good player. But I look at Barcov, Eichol, in a similar vein. I just look at what Matthews is capable of doing,

and I understand he didn't do it last year, and I understand he's never really done it in the playoffs. and he's got to own that rep. But, like, when he's on his game, I'd have him fourth. I'd have him behind McDavid, McKinnon, dry-siddle. And when he's really on his game, which, again, you could say this about everyone, he might be able to fight for that second spot or third spot. Like, he's not touching McDavid, but this guy scored 69 two years ago.

Like, he was unbelievable that year. And defensively, he's as good, if not better, than all the guys ahead of him. Like, he's a phenomenal defensive defense. sentiment. You know, you say that, Hayes, and I agree with you, you know, on a lot of nights except that, as we, you know, we were talking about it when you were gone last week, he's never taken over a big game, like, or maybe he's taken over the occasional big game for a stretch. But if you're that good a two-way player, you know, I think there's an expectation that occasionally you were just going to say, no, no, it's not happening tonight, fellas, this is

my game, my team's winning. I'm going to dominate every shift. I'm on. the ice both sides of the puck and there's nothing you can do about it and we just haven't seen that for him i can't argue against that and i think that's the point and that's and that's the point that that needs to be made to him and uh who brennan shanahan apparently couldn't make it to him you know sheldon keef couldn't make it to him craig brubay who knows if he's tried yet but you know better start trying soon because the you know the clock ain't going to tick forever for for broube and i think that's the frustrating thing like you don't doubt that all those guys ranked ahead of them like you don't doubt the McKinnett like you know McKinnon can do that

dogs you know McKinnon's a dog you know you know you know David dry settles as clutch as it gets and and Crosby at his best has been the the more dogged grinder no question for a skilled player Matthews needs to prove he can get into that class I think yep to really cement himself in the same company as those guys uh all right we'll continue this into the next hour strut I feel like you're lurking in the weeds there and you got you got some more that maybe you You can throw in here. You can list it if you want. We can get a little strutty list going to.

Sure. Good muffins. Yeah, we get the muffins cooking or baking. Steve Phillips coming up. Lawrence Applebam, our friend from Gulf, Canada, who was on the scene yesterday in Mississauga. It is take on what that means for Canadian golf, what we saw at Brook yesterday. Brad Faxson coming up.

Now we roll over to the Ryder Cup. What's going to happen here? Keegan Bradley. Is he going to play? Is he going to be a captain? What's he going to do? More on that's still to come later this afternoon. And the Jay's back in action tonight.

Overdrive continues. 10, 50, and on TSN2. All right, Steve Phillips coming up. Jay's in action tonight. Vladie back in the lineup with DH tonight. Max Scherzer on the mound for the Jays. Milwaukee in town later in a week. That's going to be a big, big series.

31 games to go. Five games up on Boston, five and a half up on the Yankees. He still have a series against New York, against Boston coming up. So we'll get to that and more with Steve in about 20 minutes. Brad Faxson coming up on Tommy Fleetwood, my boy, who I played with at the pro M a couple years ago. It was just a matter of time. Right?

It's the pro-am touch. The Phram bump. The Hays effect. The Hays effect, right? I push people in the right direction. Very inspiring guy. Nick Taylor is also on your list? Nick Taylor, absolutely on my list, as he should be.

And another guy who's out there that could be able to claim the same bump, because he's out there every single year with me and with these professional players would be the CEO of Golf Canada. Here's Lawrence Applebaum. Do you take claim for Tommy Fleetwood's win yesterday or what, Lauren? Well, on the PGA tour, they do call it the hazy bump. They just sort of, they're a draft choice by the pros, and they're like, guys, just let me play with Brian this year because it might be my chance. Yeah, at least I like to believe that.

I'm sure nobody else on Earth would possibly believe that. But, you know, you know that Dave, Dave knows that a good caddy can be worth about a half a stroke on a round. And a good pro-am partner can probably be worth about an. eighth of a stroke during that weekend. That's right. That's right. I'll take credit for very, very small portions, but it does count for something. What a week, man. What an incredible week? What was the energy like out at Mississauga yesterday?

Well, it was one of those special days. You know, we've had a great summer all around in golf in general. People have just sort of played their minds out. And to finish, you know, the end of August with a perfect day, Bluebird day in Mississauga and to have Brooke in the final group and basically play match play with Minji Lee who will likely be number one in the world over the next week probably the way the rankings go and Brooke sort of went head to head. It was electric on site. We had a full house and coming right down to the 18th and you know you guys get to see a lot of the greatest

athletes perform and see what they do. But I would have to say that Brooke has got to be in that upper echelon of people that when championships are on the line, when pressure is on the line, and she does have the support, but also sometimes the weight of

Canada on her shoulders. And for her to pull it off in that fashion, it was sublime. It was really something special to see. Lawrence, I saw you there. Your green side as she makes that incredible lag put on to give herself the tap in to win it.

When you're the CEO of Golf Canada and you know there's going to be a big celebration, you want to get in there and congratulate her, how do you sort of position yourself in the hug line there? What's your strategy? I've been told I'm 271 in the hug line, so I sort of find my spot. Well, we're very lucky that golf is supported by so many people in this country. They play it, they watch it, they support the game.

But corporately and sponsor-wise, you know, we have two of the greatest title sponsors in the game. You know, on the women's side, we have CPKC, the railway that stretches from Canada through U.S. and into Mexico. And on the men side, we obviously have RBCC, who sponsors both, not only the men, but they also are a big part of our women's game. And so we really try to take care of our partners and be with them. Brooke is also an ambassador of the railway, so she wears that CPKC badge of honor on her sleeve. And so I get to spend a little bit of time with the CEO Keith Creel and his family and his leaders.

And then I also, over the years, I've gotten to know the Henderson's pretty well, and they probably were there 40 strong, including her dad, Dave, who's the coach, and her sister is the caddy. and so to watch them and to realize that, you know, time flies, but it was two and a half years since Brooke was in the winter circle. And you could see her voice cracked a little bit when Bob Weeks was interviewing her at the end.

And it was a long two years. And she took a lot of pressure on her shoulders to get her game in shape. And it was all clicking. I mean, Brian saw it also, you two, Dave, firsthand. And she didn't miss a shot over the weekend, and it was really impressive to see. And so to celebrate, I don't know if there's many Canadian athletes who are so beloved and encouraged and supported as Brooke. So seeing her win and seeing everyone celebrated at Mississauga was something special.

What I was really impressed by this weekend of my kids and I were watching, it was just how steady with her mental game she looks. Even when things are going well or not, she just rolled in the same way put after put. So the level of, like, we talk about sort of physical gifts and talent and Brooks has always been able to hit it for a small frame and to hit it a ton. She was, she averaged 280 yards driving distance over the four days. So it's pretty amazing. But I believe, and a lot of people would say that her probably greatest talent and gift

is the mental game study. And she's able to narrow in and focus and she's able to stay. when she's, you know, you know, hitting a green side bunker and then holding out for Eagle. She's able to, the highs stay medium and the low stay medium. And the greatest news about it, because I can't go the whole show without saying it, is that she's headed your way, Jason. You know, she's headed to Royal Mayfair to Edmonton, 2026. Do we have to see Jason Strudwick in a pro-am, Brian?

Yes. Is that what we need to say? 100%. The whole strutty crew's got to be out there. I'm already training for it. Lawrence, I'm ready. I've been practicing really hard, and I'm being serious. I don't want to embarrass myself.

If you need me, I'll be there. Listen, if you can sell about 12,000 tickets, strutty, you are in the pro air. No one more popular in Edmonton in Sturdy. Facebook Marketplace. That's right. He'll look up up. He'll sell them individually. He'll show up at the, what is it, West Edmonton Mall and hand them out.

That's right. Personally, I will tell you that we felt a great love in Mississippi. Saga, but we had a crew out from tourism to Edmonton. We had a crew out from rural Mayfair. And, you know, we were in Calgary last year, Earl Grey, and we headed back to Edmonton, I can already feel that next year, 2026 will continue this energy we had in 2025. And so we can't wait to get to Edmond, we can't wait to see the animal and its natural

habitat. And so we're really looking forward to that, but it has been a superb CPK. Women's Open and obviously we can't go too far without celebrating our guys as well who played Corey and Nick played Greenland Tour Championship and I know and I know you have our putting coach on the show later but that's right um great to have Corey I mean 62 is just unbelievable grind unbelievable week for Canadian golf's been a great year you know it always is just every year it seems to get bigger and bigger and better and golf Canada is a big part of that again the CPKC women's open was outstanding at mississauga to be great and

to next year. We'll be back up at TPC Toronto before you know it. It happens quickly. So, congrats on a great event, like always, Lawrence, and we can't thank you enough for joining us today. Thank you for doing this. Okay. Thank you, guys, and welcome back, Hazy, and have a great fall season. You got it. Thank you. There he is, Lawrence Appelbaum, CEO of Golf Canada. And, yeah, I mean, the volunteers they have out there, the whole operation, the infrastructure was as good as it gets. And it was a great, great tournament. It'll be a lot of fun out there in Everton. There you go, Strud.

Gear up, man. You get 364 more days until next year's Pro Am. You've got to toughen up. I'm already nervous. I've got to start. I have been practicing just to improve. I'm trying to break 80s so bad. I'm so close.

So close. Well, you'll break it at the Pro Am next year. I have full, full value in that. All right, hour two coming up. Brad Faxon will join us. Steve Phillips coming up. Jay's twins tonight. Overdrive continues.

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