OverDrive - OverDrive - August 5, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Join Aaron Korolnek, Jason Strudwick and Michael DiStefano for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys dive into the Blue Jays' dominating win against the Rockies, Shane Bieber's stint with the Bisons, Eric Lauer's potential as a playoff starter, Bo Bichette's contract value and Nick Robertson signing a contract with the Maple Leafs. TSN Tennis Analyst Mark Roe joins to discuss Victoria Mboko's rise to stardom, her impressive National Bank Open run and the matches throughout the tournament and Chris Boucher signing with the Celtics.

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It's a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. We're live on TSN 1050, TSN4, and TSN's YouTube channel. It is the trio that Canada has been clamoring for. Aaron Kourulnick, Al's brother. And live from Edmonton, Alberta, it's our guy, Jason Strudwick. Fellas, how we doing today? Doing a lot? This is like Crosby, McKinnon and McDavid, right?

These are what the people want. That's it. Three guys that can make plays, good-looking stars. So finally, we got it. I know. It's been a long time coming. The good looks, I mean, generally speaking, with Overdrive, they come and go. But today, we have three hours of some extremely good-looking gentleman on your TV.

Probably more of a radio show. Let's be honest. More of a radio show today. Yeah, I don't think. Listen, we've all been doing radio for a long time. Is there anything worse than, oh, he's for radio and everyone chuckles. and it's not something that we appreciate at all. Very unoriginal.

It is. Unoriginal joke. But we've got a great show. Actually, Struddy, Al's brother and I carpooled up here together. We both reside in downtown Toronto. Wow. I know. It was...

What's that like? It was quite the ride. Actually, it was a lot of fun, except for the phone calls that Al's brother was taken. The guy was like, Ari Gold, an entourage every 30 seconds. Every 30 seconds, the phone's going off. In fact, he started negotiating, and I swear to God, A deal for his home and auto insurance, as I am chauffeuring him up to TSN. I did not appreciate that.

Oh, I mean, look, sometimes you've got to take important phone calls, right, Strud? I potentially, I'm in the market for buying a house, and I need to get my ducks in a row, figure out my budget and whatnot. And, you know, I've recently been looking into what's going on with insurance, trying to figure out, you know, the prices, the premiums, what I can get going. And I got a call back from a place that I had inquired about a quote. And I had to have that conversation. That's what we did.

I thought it was an important phone call to be. Listen, I'm proud of you that you're moving in the homeowner direction. That's fantastic. But it is a major misstep when someone offers to drive you. Thank you. And now you're fielding calls on the side. You can put that on plane mode. You can airplane mode.

You can wait for those conversations. Interact with the person that's driving you. Frankly, I'm surprised. I thought it would be Aaron to do that and not you. I'm disappointed in you, I'll be driving tomorrow. I bet you he takes at least two phone calls. No, nobody calls me. Nobody calls me.

I will say. I'll call it up tomorrow. I'll call it up tomorrow. I was very impressed with Al's Brothers negotiating tactics. So much so. Is it grinding? I am, I'm kind of regretful for you that you're not an NHL general manager. You could be negotiating deals, fleecing other guys with regularity.

Because the way that you know the market on home and auto insurance, unlike anybody, you're talking about premiums and, oh, you know, this area is generally like here. Yeah, try to bundle. I've heard that's the way to go about it. And you did a fantastic. He's exactly about my vehicle, and he's like, oh, this is going to. I'm like, yeah, but I'm trying to bundle it with my home, home insurance as well. Like, oh, wonderful.

Well, let me put you through. And I'm like, okay, I had to get through to some other agent to talk about the bundle situation. So, yeah, you know, take a few minutes out of the drive. It had to be done, Struddy. It had to be done. It did. And let me tell you, Struddy, for the vast majority of the drive, we were talking about the Toronto Blue Jays and that absolute bludgeoning. They gave to the Rockies of Colorado last night, 15.

one. Every J had a hit through three innings. Yeah. It was a total embarrassment. That's what Colorado is these days. What do they have? 28, 299 wins. A run differential of like minus 350, something like that. 2.91. It's minus 2.91, okay? Do you know what the record is? I went back and I looked into it. The record in modern day baseball for a full season, run differentials, minus 345. Oh, if they're a lot. Red Sox in 1932. 1932. You have to go back. Like, they're so close to making this happen.

291 to 345, we're really going to have 50-something runs. Dude, that might be the end of this series against the J's. Well, they're on pace for minus 447 runs this season. Now, we are bearing the lead. Of course, the Jays' offensive performance is something that was desperately needed, especially after the series against the Royals. They had lost six of eight heading in to the series at Coors Field. And that's just like a recipe for what the Jays really needed, right?

To bounce back. Colorado's pathetic. Just destroy them. But think about it, like, look back to when they really got on that hot play early in late June, all the way through July. It really started taking on a lowly athletics team, and they beat the piss out of that team. They beat and blew the doors off of them in that series. And then they got hot, right? Everybody's confidence was through the roof.

That's what they need to do to get back on track here, right? Continue this tonight, right? You've got a pretty good pitching matchup again. Burrios, I think they're having a bullpen game for the Rocky. Every day is a bullpen. And just continue to hit against this team. That's the worst DRA and all of baseball, worse run differential maybe in the history of baseball.

Just continue to get going offensively and ride this as far as you can. I think confidence, guys, you're talking about feeling good about yourself. I mean, they have two really tough series coming up after this. Dodgers and Cubs. Those are two, you know, two of the best teams in the majors, not just in the National League. So I think they all want to feel good about themselves. And I'm going to go a step further.

And you've got to include the pitchers this one. well. The pitchers, I know they don't all pitch over this short of a series, but they all want to be feeling good and feel like they're making guys swing and miss or whatever, pop them up or ground it out, whatever type of pitch you're out. Struddy, what was the worst team you were ever on? And, of course, there's very few teams in the history of sports as bad as Colorado is this year. But imagine going to the ballpark. Yeah, you're getting paid millions of dollars, but knowing your team is going to get destroyed night after night. I'm sure at some point in your career, you dealt with that.

Yeah, I play to the couple teams that make the playoffs, and we were, like, in Emerton, my last year in the NHL, we got the first pick, and that was really hard, and, you know, it's embarrassing. That's the biggest thing. No matter how much you're getting paid, it's just embarrassing. You don't want to, you don't want to be at the rink, or

at the ballpark, in this case, you don't want to be at home, you don't want to be in the road. Like, you're running out of places to be. You know, like, there's nowhere to really... The bar maybe would be a good spot. Yeah, yeah, the bar does help, and after the season, you usually swallow a few drinks to take the edge off, but I feel for them, and I didn't realize the run differential was that bad.

I looked it up today. It's brutal. And it is like, it is a little, it's a death march. And they have a long ways ago. What they got about 40? 50 games. They've got 50 games to go here. And you know it's going to get worse, right?

Because guys, oh, my back. You know, they're not going to want to play because they don't want to get embarrassed. So, and that happens in hockey, too. So I feel for them, but if the Blue Jays, you don't care. You know, I had a coach tell me that, you know, half the league doesn't care that you have problems. Another half is glad you have them. And that's what it is. when Blue Jace, you go out there and just beat the wheels off these guys.

And that's their problem to do with, not yours. Bo Bichette, six RBIs, that's a career high. Ernie Clement had five RBI of his own. Eric Lauer, excellent once again, at Coors Field and say what you will about the Rockies pitching, which is clearly the worst in Major League Baseball by a mile. Their offense is okay, and for Lauer to do what he did against the Rockies on the road, it really is starting to generate some real questions around the city of Toronto as to what the Jays do with their rotation.

And I think it's a very legitimate question, Struddy. And Al's brother and I, when he wasn't on the phone negotiating rates on his insurance, we're actually talking about this conundrum of the Jays are facing. Lauer's been so good. Lauer's numbers are better than anybody else's in the Jays rotation. Where do you think this all ends up? Of course, Bieber will be part of the equation as well. Al's brother did go to Buffalo to see Bieber.

Yeah. In his most recent rehab start, we'll get to that story in just a moment. But, I mean, they almost have too many good options if that exists. Yeah, well, if you're really interested to know what the insurance agent, what his thoughts were on, maybe get him on the line. He had some good takes. Yeah, yeah, he probably fed some of the info to hell's brother. I think this allows a great story, and you always want people surprising you.

But I really think the wild card is Shane Bieber, because he has such a massive. You think about the possibilities of what he could mean to the Blue Jays. He could theoretically, he has been. and could be an ace, or he could be an arm in the bullpen. Like, it's such a wide variety of outcomes for him. So let's assume he's maybe somewhere in the middle. Maybe he's a mid to later starter, you know, in your top five or I guess six, if they go with six at some point.

But I think he'll really affect it because if he can drive up the – and get into the top maybe two, three, that really changed the look. And then he put Lauer in there, it'll squeeze out some people. And more importantly, guys, guard from injury. Because that's one thing that you don't want to run into, you know, not enough arms and starting rotation heading down the stretch here. Well, it's going to be nice. And I'd imagine throughout the rest of the regular season, they'll probably end up rolling with a six-man rotation. Have to.

And not only because you have six guys who deserve to start every sixth day, but it also just keeps arms fresh, right? It allows you to kind of give everyone a day off leading into the postseason. Like, guys like Bassett, Gosson, Perrios, like they've been pretty good, like health-wise the last few years. They've thrown a lot of it, though. All do pitchers like it? I mean, they probably not. It's probably similar to, because they get into a routine, right? So they're used to pitch every fifth day, get into a routine.

But I'd imagine the later you get into a season, especially if you're in a postseason run, you might not mind every other start, maybe getting pushed back a day and getting a little bit more rest. So I think at this point in the year, it might be a little better for them. And you have grizzled vets on the Js, too. Scherzer. You know exactly what he wants to do. He wants to start every fifth day. That's what he's been doing for 20 years in the Biggs.

And same goes for Barrios and Gosman and Bassett. But this team is so bought in. It's so bought in, I don't think it's going to be an issue. I don't think it's going to be issues as well. I'll challenge you. The rhythm does matter. I think it does matter. Now, you know, I was never a pitcher, but I've seen goalies.

You know, they want to play all the time. If they miss it and they go too long between starts, or even a player doesn't play all the time, doesn't matter. So I wonder if they do decide that they don't, maybe they go for a couple runs of that, and then they squeeze down to five, assuming Bieber's in the mix. Who's out? who gets squeezed out of that starting rotation? Which is still an assumption, right?

Bieber, it sounds like, is going to make two more rehab starts. So we're pushing this back into the middle of August. And two weeks is a long time in professional sports. Someone could get hurt. Something could happen. And all of a sudden, the five-man rotation, maybe they have four guys in two weeks. I'll tell you what, though. Like, I was in Buffalo Sunday, went down to take in the Bieber outing when he was with the Bison's.

I thought he looked pretty good. I thought he looked real strong. You know, five innings, 47 of his 62 pitches were strikes. So he was on the play, out and over the plate, a bunch of swing and miss stuff. His first two batters, he had to McLean in and go. The first two batters, I'm like, oh, man, we're about to witness something amazing. And he had a pretty good start, pretty good outy. I'd be curious to ask Steve Phillips is going to join us in a little bit.

Like, what are you looking for in these starts? Like, he gave up a couple of runs, gave up that homer you're watching it on TSN right now. But like, what are you looking for? I imagine similar to a preseason start or a spring game start. It's like just looking at what it looks like. He's hitting his spots. The stats don't really matter a whole lot. The strikeouts, it's against AAA batters.

Does it really mean a whole lot? But it looked like he was kind of hitting his spots and he was getting the swing and miss on the pitches he wants to get on those. The slider, the curveball. Curveball is dancing. I'll tell you that. This is like trouble with the curve. You know, you're the scout in the stands.

I didn't hear the crack of the bat. There's no crack of the bat. There's no crack of the bad. The great movie. That is a good movie. Yes, the bat. Go ahead, Struddy. Well, Martin partly in the Bieber report, who drove you down there and who'd you talk to on the phone and the way down?

Exactly. Was it your dad or your mom? No, we drove, I drove down myself, but there was some people with me. I did not take any phone calls actually on that. How courteous. Yeah, phoneless drive down to Sailing Field. Let me tell you, though, guys, Salem Field, underrated ballpark, the food options, they got down there, outstanding. Please elaborate.

Oh, my, you can get. What's your top pick? We ended up I ended up going with the beef on Weck Which is a buffalo delicacy It is And so they got a good beef on whack down there I don't know what is that

On Weck Yeah it's like a roast beef sandwich Kind of thing They call beef on whack Is that French? No I possibly I don't know It's a bit

It's a sandwich Yeah What kind of bread? It was like a brioche bun Like a nice salted top It was good It was nice All right

It was delicious They got everything in there They got chicken wings Thalen's dogs They're at a salin dog I have never been to bubble for a baseball game. It was dead.

Anything you could possibly ask for. It was an incredible spread. Taco in a bag? You probably could have got that. I didn't stumble across it. But I'd imagine that had taco in a bag. Could have walked around with one of those bad boys for sure. Yeah, that is also an underrated storyline.

Shane Bieber making starts in Buffalo as a marquee event in the city. I mean, the Sabres haven't made the playoffs in 14 years. The bills haven't started yet. It was pretty packed. I think a lot of Buffalo bit, and even I think a lot of Canadians do. There's a lot of Jay's jersey and Jay's T's. shirts. I think a lot of Canadians made the trip kind of a couple, you know, hour and a half south

of Toronto to go and see Shane Bieber make the start. The second I found out, and it was announced, I think they even announced on the show. I think Atkins came out and said when he was on with the boys that he was going to have a AAA start on Sunday, and I went to check, sure enough, they're playing a Buffalo. Grab tickets right away. Little beef on whack, you're good to go. What a day. Get in there. A nice sailing

dog at the game, you're golden. Yeah, well, back to the Major League story for the Jays. Again, 151 last night over Colorado. How great was it to see Bowman? Bichette do what he did. And, man, this guy is becoming quite the story, not only in Toronto, but around Major League Baseball, he's got a pretty significant lead as far as Hits go in the entire sport of baseball. I think he's nine up on second. Now, I know Aaron Judge is coming back tonight for the Yankees. That's a story we'll get to just a bit, but I mean, talk about a pristine moment for him as a guy who's entering free agency at the end of the year to be doing what he's

doing. And a lot of talk about what the Js maybe should have done with Bichette, what they still can do. I am certain that Bo Bichette is very motivated by not only this run that the Blue Jays have been on, but also what his boy Vlad Jr. got in the off season, I guess the beginning of the season, if you want to call it that, $500 million. And if I'm Bichette, I think Willie Adomis got a deal for $185 million from San Francisco in the off season. Had a really nice season at shortstop. Lindor makes 341 over 10 years from the Mets. I don't think Bichette's getting there, but if he continues to do what he's been doing, helps propel the Blue Jays on a deep playoff run, that could be a very pricey ticket for someone around Major League

Baseball House, brother. And I hope it's the Jays. I mean, open up that checkbook because that's a guy who most likely will be leading the American League and hits for the third time in six years. There's not a lot of Blue Jays have done that in franchise history. No, you just, you hope that he's open to coming back. And he's kind of flip-flopped on. He said he is. Yeah, he's also has indicated that like maybe not, you know. Well, yeah, it may not want to be around here. So only time will tell, realistically.

And you hope that Toronto realizes, okay, maybe this guy is for real. Because last year was clearly an anomaly. And that's what going into this year. Like, I understand why the Blue Jays didn't give him the contract over the offseason. He was coming back, coming off of a terrible season. It was like a year and a half where you just didn't play great baseball. It was hurt to. But a couple of years prior, he was the hits leader.

Well, he's back to being that guy today. He's back to being that power, middle infielder that is very coveted. very hard to find. The stud. You get a guy who's got, what, 33 doubles, 15 homers. Like, he's going to end up with over 50 extra base hits when the season's over dumb with. He's going to blow past that.

He might be there by the end of the next week. Realistically, this is a guy at the Blue Jays right in the harder than lineup. He's batting clean up right now. His last 25 games hitting 404. Got 42 hits his last 25 games. Like, guys just getting on base, providing offense for this team. They got to figure out a way to get him to stay, ultimately. Because here's the thing.

Going forward, if they still want to be considered championship contenders, you got to have a guy like Bob Schett sticking around the lineup. He leaves? I mean, now what do you have? Well, Springer's making, what, $25 million a year? Next year is his last year. You expect him to... Bichette's probably making in that range.

I would think for next season? No, not, yeah, probably for next season. He's not his next deal, 25 million a year. You think that's all that's all that's. Depending on how long the deal is, yeah. Yeah. How long you think? Or how much do you think?

Well, that's the thing, baseball is insane nowadays. It's like, if you're a superstar player, you get like a seven to 12-year contract. Well, again, Bregman took a three-year deal with Boston, and I'm sure the Jays would love to do that with Bichette, because there's some uncertainty about how long he's going to be a short-stop. And, yeah, the player that he is at the moment, and how long he'll be his shortstop, right?

As you get older, your skills deteriorate, and you're not the same player that you once were. All of a sudden, Bichette at second base, maybe he's at third base, maybe not as valuable as he would be at shortstop. And I think that's kind of the conundrum that the Jays found themselves in with Vlad, right? Okay, and even Juan Soto. right? Where is he going to be playing in five years? Can he still play the field or

will you inevitably be a DH? But short stops just don't get paid as much as those middle of the order power bats historically but, you know, if you're the J's and you've had the season that you've had so far and Bichette's been a huge part of it I hope you'd be willing to ante up for a guy that's been one of your catalysts all year.

Yeah, that least the organization has proven that they're willing to open up the checkbook. Like they just gave a boatload of money to Vladdy and a big reason why they did that is because they want to remain competitive. They put a lot of money into the stadium. So they need to get some of that back and playoff revenue is the best way to make that

happen. So you lose Bo Bichette. You're losing a big part of that team. And you're taking a shot when it comes to, you know, a guy you don't know. A guy you don't know. Well, yeah, you're telling you for a guy you don't know. I mean, last year they made that trade to bring him in it as thinking like, okay, Bo leaves.

Remember him? But, like, there's no way now that that's an easy move. You can't just sit there and say, yeah, we have one internally with him and it. No, you don't. Arjun Amala maybe down the road, but you're thinking that's like three, four years down the road. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Where you guys scraped on it a bit, he's homegrown, and you know him. And I always choose the guy I know.

I'll even pay a premium, like not a master, but I pay a premium because I know him. I know his good, his bad, his ugly days, his great days. Like, I know everything, was you bring someone from the outside and give a massive deal. You don't know them. You don't know all their little secrets. So I think the fact that he's homegrown, the Blue Jays really has really. have to try to push. I think it would be a mistake for them to walk away.

If Bichette decides that, okay, I want to move on. I've had a good run in Toronto. Okay, you know, okay, thanks for the service. But it can't be the Blue Jays and safe story. We don't want to go up to, again, it can't be crazy number, but a number there's market favor or a market fair price. Well, another homegrown Toronto athletes signed a deal over the weekend. Nick Robertson, now, to compare Bob Bichette and Nick Robertson would be a stretch.

But it is true. It is true. to deal for just over $1.8 million. I think what's really interesting about where things stand with the Toronto Maple Leafs is that they have so many guys who could slot into their bottom six, which is, I suppose, a good problem to have, but it is a problem that inevitably will be rectified by trades, and they will have to ship some guys out.

This is Joe from the Bridges, potential opening line. He didn't want me to say it's his. He didn't want to label it his own, but he's got Mateas-Michelli up there on the top line with Nyes and Matthews. But look at all the different line combinations that they could rip off when it comes to the bottom six forwards. And Michael Posetta is a guy they signed in the offseason. No one's really sure about what David Camp, Calli Arncrook's deals are going to be. Nick Roberts has got a contract.

And it's just a fascinating spot. And that does not include Easton Cowan, who a lot of people believe will be given a real opportunity to make this club out of camp, as he should be. I mean, the guy has accomplished every single thing he possibly can in the OHO with the London night. So, Stradi, how do you see this all playing out? with the Leafs now that Robertson's locked up. Do you think he's a lock to be part of the opening night lineup for the Leaves? You know, I look at that, the fourth and fifth line, I guess, and I'm looking at, it's an opportunity for everyone to make a statement in training camp.

And just because you don't start the season doesn't mean that you can't change and get going. People make too big a deal, I think, on the opening night roster, because it changes right away. But if I'm, you know, Nick Robertson or Cali, you know, I think Lotton probably has that spot locked up, these other guys, you have to come in and have to do. just bully away every practice and make a statement that I am the guy. I'm the one he should be playing.

And you might get setback because you give everyone a chance, but you have to keep pushing. And I've been in that situation many, many, many times. So I know what I'm talking about. You can't be deterred by other way other guys are playing. But I think for Nick Robertson, it means it's year and year out. He's the guy kind of on the sideline. So he has to at some point put his foot down and say, I am the guy. Yeah, I wonder if he's on the team opening night.

I'm very skeptical. It just seems like it's time. He's been a healthy so many times, and I know every time he comes back, he scores a goal. And that's a funny novelty that we make jokes about. He gets scratched. He scores.

He gets scratched. He scores. But this guy needs another opportunity. It's not happening with the Leafs. Look at the way that they've conducted their off season. They're bringing in big boys on the wings. And Nick Robertson, I just don't feel like he's a fit. It doesn't make sense.

It doesn't fit the identity of what they want to do in the bottom six. Yeah, but I would also say, what they've done. Story to interrupt, like, for $1.8 million, the guy scored 15 goals. Like, you want to keep them around. You don't want to just cut them. But you need something commensurate with that value. Which, you know, if it was out there, I'm sure that trade would have came to fruition by now,

realistically. I'm surprised. There's some teams that definitely should give him a chance. He's still, he's only 23 or 23 or away. He's still relatively young and has a chance to grow into, you know, goal scoring, you know, 15 to 20 goal guy. I still think it's here in Toronto. Like, just because of the identity of the bottom six. He doesn't fit that.

And I think you pretty much know what your top six is going to look like. Sure, he can fill in every now and then injuries are going to occur and he'll probably get an opportunity to play up the lineup. But realistically, I look at it and I'm thinking, if everyone's healthy on game one of the playoffs, he's not going to make the lineup. Like, it's been three years in a row where this guy is sitting up in the press box with the playoffs.

And it's not that I think he's a bad player, but I look at him like, why are you paying someone $1.8 million if you're already projecting him as a press box body. I'll say this. I think that he could get traded for a player in a similar situation, another organization. Agreed. Kind of on that second, third contract, like not 30 years old, but maybe someone who was drafted by the team hasn't worked out yet.

So I'd be looking for that more than trying to just slide him out the door. Now, it's yet to have two-way street. But call me through team's roster. Who's that 14th forward on another team or that 8th? defense of another team that you'd like a look at and you can flop it and maybe it works well for both teams yeah and Pittsburgh is a team that has been floated for robertson simply because of the connection with kyle dubus and all the reports about maybe they trade rust maybe they trade rickle and needs or to play in the top six but i don't know i i think you could probably get a third

or a fourth for nick robertson today but i'm sure the least look at it though and say well the guy scored 15 goals for us what's a fourth round pick going to do for us and you let's just keep them around if that's the case and i i totally understand that logic as well. But clearly something has to give. David Camp, I know he has some kind of no trade protection, which is hilarious and absurd, but it's true. Callie Yarncrooks, a guy who's been an NHL player for a long time. He's got five goals and 110 playoff games. I'm not sure why there's such a push to, like, move Yarncrock out the door. I think he's a very serviceable bottom six player. Like for me, I think like, you look at what he did in the playoffs

and that line that Joe from the Bridge had projected of Lotton, Lawrence, and Yarncrock, they They're pretty solid in the postseason. Like, very dependable 200 feet. They provided a lot of chances. The goals didn't necessarily come. How many goals? But a lot of chances at the very least with that line up there. I think the answer is zero.

Possibly. It's got a better game. He can play better than he showed as a leaf so far. I think that it's, you got to look. I think the centers, it's a bit unfair. You don't have to carry the line, but you at least got to push a little bit. Is that an identity for the line? Yeah.

And what I saw from on, he just wasn't there. And it's a lot coming home to play and you get to trade all that stuff. But I would think that he's a guy that really counting on to take a pretty good step towards being what he is more consistently. That's Jason Strubick. That's Al's brother. I'm Aaron Kourlick has Vicki and Boko Fever made its way to Edmonton strutty. Everyone talking about Vicki and her incredible play so far at the National Bank Open in Montchrabics. In Toronto, man, I'm telling you, I know the women aren't here.

There's a lot of conversations being had about her. And she plays in the semifinals tomorrow. We'll get to that with Mark Rowe coming. Coming up on the other side, we have Tim Kirkagin joining us in our number two as well. Steve Phillips and Robert Turbin talking some NFL. We got preseason action, official preseason week one coming up later this week. Again, this is Overdrive on TSN4, TSN-1050, and live on TSN's YouTube channel. From tariffs to trade deals, the markets are changing.

Is your portfolio ready for what comes next? For all your questions, you need a money guy. Kelvin the Money Guy will help you develop a financial plan that includes the right levels of diversity. The best way to navigate uncertain times. With strategic advice from Kelvin, you can not only protect your investments, you can grow them. Don't wait, call 416-457 plan or visit ask kelvin.cai.a. Overdrive continues on this Tuesday afternoon, Korolnik, Strudwick, and Brother. You okay if I go with Brother as opposed to DeStefano?

Which way you want me to go here, Michael? You do whichever you feel necessary. Okay, there you go. Brother, it is. Brother it is. Mark Roe will join us in just a moment to talk about Vicki Mboko, who is doing all types of incredible things of the National Bank Open in Montreal,

the first Canadian to reach the WTA-1000 event semifinals since Bianca did it in 2019. The youngest woman to reach the semi since Belinda Benchich in 2015. She's not even 19 years old. Vicky Mboko and is doing the things that she's been doing. It's incredible to watch. She smoked Cocoa Gough over the weekend. It was like 6-1, 6-2, like just absolutely cruise through it.

And she was number one seeded, Coco Goss. One of the best dentist players in the world. It's impressive stuff. It's so funny. I was thinking about this. There's something unique about being like a Canadian athlete where I feel like the whole country really really gets behind you. And it feels like there's some sort of like in Boko craze right now.

everyone's talking about it's like absolute cooler talk whereas i'm not sure that's the case with like you know the americans more so because there's just so much going on there's so many too big of a country right and they got so many so many different you know whether it's golf or it's tennis or whatever it may be i feel like canadians they always kind of get behind them really well and right now it's imbocos yeah it's imboko and summer mcintosh right yeah summer summer yeah what an i'm what an athlete she's unbelievable she is a machine as is the young athlete who's 12 from China. 12 years old.

What were you doing at 12 years old? Not much. Nothing. Nothing. Literally. Literally nothing. I was playing video games. I was playing video games.

A little D-to-D pass with Jason Strudwick. Yes. Over to Taylor Chorney. Trudy to Chorney up to Taylor Hall. That's what I did back of the day. What a reference. You think that happened. You played with Chorney, didn't you?

Were you in the Chorney era? Yeah, I was there. Yeah. I got it. That probably happened. Did you call it the Chorney era? I did. The Taylor Chorney era.

All right, let's welcome in a man who is very familiar with Taylor Chorney and Vicki Moko. He is Mark Rowe from TSN Sports Center and does a fantastic job of covering tennis. Oh, my God, he looks unbelievable. Look how good. What is going on? Like, how do you look so fantastic from your home office, Mark? Your skin looks amazing. It's the home filter, right?

That takes off 10 pounds, right? You do look great, Mark. That orange shirt. Where did you get? Is that a new TSN golf? shirt. That looks really nice. Where did you get that one? I got it from TSA. I don't know if it's this year's or five years ago, but it's

in the closet. Yeah, it's a good looking shirt. All right, so Vicki and Boko, Mark, we had you on my show in the morning here at TSN 1050 a couple of months ago, and you kept on reiterating. Vicki and Boko is the next big star in Canadian tennis from the women's perspective. And that has certainly come to fruition here at the National Bank Open. I mean, could she win this thing? Like at this point in time, why not? Well, she at least has a 25% chance because she's into the semifinals. She goes into this match against Rabakana as an underdog, although she was an underdog against Cocoa golf.

And we just saw Rabakana play Leila Annie Fernandez in Washington. And she had that match all wrapped up and then couldn't close it out. And that's been her problem. As a former Wimbledon champion, she probably should have more major titles to her name and she doesn't. So at this point, you know, Boko doesn't have the pressure. she's going to have the crowd she's playing fantastic she has the ability to play at that level she just doesn't have the experience that her opponent i don't want to put too much pressure on her but it's been a wild ride that i'm somewhat surprised because it's happening this early in her

career but as someone who's actually got to watch her in person as a junior i'm not surprised that she's having success what is her superpower what does she do so well that others can't handle her serve is unbelievable uh you know she can crank at 170 180 sometimes and um you know the you saw last night boozes minaro attack her forehand a little bit and it's not to say that that's a weak shot but that's a shot that can get better the backhand and specifically the backhand down the line is a world-class shot that's that she has as a teenager which is wild to say so you know the one of the first things that I heard from coaches when I was watching her play as a 16-year-old in New York at the U.S. Open, they kept using the same word, weapons.

She has weapons, and there's no way that you can win on this tour without them. And when they're saying that, that was three summers ago, when they were saying that at that stage, you know, that's when it really caught my attention and we might have something really special here. Well, Mark, before you came on, we were talking about how, you know, it's unique sometimes when Canadian athletes, you know, particularly in like the Indian. individual athletes in those sports get going. It really sparks a craze and a buzz within the country.

And it seems to be what's happening right now within Boko. And, you know, we saw it a few years back with Bianca Andrescu when she won the tournament back in 2019. Like, how does this tournament compare and the kind of craze compare it to back then? Yeah, so I would say a little more unexpected than when Andrescu did it, because remember earlier in the year, she had won Indian Wells. And she had gone on her a meteoric rise. and then she got injured and we didn't see her for a few months

and she returned to it was playing in Toronto that year and then went on another run and it was still somewhat improbable that she did it given that she was dealing with an injury. She had to play Serena Williams in the final. Obviously she backed that up and won the U.S. Open, you know, a couple of weeks later. But it's, it's, you can compare it to that one. You compare it to Dennis Chapalvala back in 2017

when he defeated Rafin Adal also as an 18-year-old. Like we've seen this story before with Canadian tennis, and it's led to big expectations, and a lot of those players haven't met those expectations yet, and Vicki Mboko is now the next star, you know, to kind of carry the flag in this sport and someone whose potential is really limitless. Mark, Rowe with us here on Overdrive. Mark, can you give us the Vicki Mboko origin story because literally no one had heard of her at the beginning of the year.

She was ranked in the 300s worldwide, and all of a sudden, she's taking the tennis world by storm. How did this come to be? So the origin story Much of it is made of your co-host on the morning show She's not Italian She comes She comes actually Because when I first said the name to him

He heard of Alpeia and he got excited But no Roddy Coley Acovo was like Forza And Marlborough was like No she's not She's not Italian Sorry Carlo

So yeah Her family emigrated from Congo She was born in Charlotte North Carolina But moved to Toronto at an early age and that's when she obviously picked up this sport and comes from a family of tennis players. She's had obviously the most success. She's the youngest one. Her sister, Gracia, who I got to meet in person in New York. She's the one that you often see in her coach's box all the time. And she's someone that tennis Canada selected pretty early in her career as someone

who has a great amount of potential. And she had a great junior career at that US Open. She reached the semifinals. And at the junior level, it's so tough to analyze where this player can go. Because she didn't win that tournament, but I would, talking to a lot of people, she probably had the most talent out of all the junior players at that year. And then, you know, she had a couple of years of injuries. And now she is making some big strides on the senior tour. And it's going to be exciting to see what she does tomorrow and what she does at the U.S. Open

and what she does over the next, you know, 10 years or so. So you touched a little bit. The other young Canadian tennis players that came in had success or they maybe were able to keep that up and be continually kind of successful. So when you look at her and you talk about her weapons, why do you expect her, do you think that she could push on and have some consistency at or near the top of her sport? You know, it's right, it's a risk saying it because I was here four or five years ago saying Dennis Chappell-Ballup's definitely going to win a major.

Felix Ocealee, if you all right, see him if you all right, rescue this US opens the first of many and if you roll back that tape I look like an idiot but but then again everyone was saying it and that's you know that that's individual sports we see it in golf you know we've seen it with brook henderson struggling a little bit like we we have these projections especially when you do something young and you and you know like if it's a hockey player and you score 40 goals and you're only 20 you just assume that they're going to score 50 four or five more times in their career and it doesn't always happen that way you know for emboco obviously she has the skill. I've been really impressed with the way that she's held her composure in a lot of

these matches. They often say in tennis the toughest match is the one after the big upset, and that was last night for her. And I wondered how she would approach that match against Jessica Buzis-Munero. And she was a little more conservative early on in the match and maybe was feeling things out. But to come through and win that in straight sets, that's a mature performance from someone who's, you know, in uncharted territory for her. Mark, Mbocomani has taken over Montreal and the women's side. What about here in Toronto? How do you see it all playing out?

Yeah, it's been a weird men's draw just because a lot of the big names due to the scheduling. We don't see Alcrez. We don't see Sinner. I thought it was a big opportunity for some of the Canadians to go deep. Unfortunately, Gabriel Diallo had to face Taylor Fritz early on in the tournament. And I think Taylor Fritz is probably, he's going to play in the quarterfinals today. I would give him the slight favorite nod, and right beyond him would be Ben Shelton, the other American. I think there's played really well.

The last couple of years, they've had really good North American hard court seasons. Last night, Alex Zavara beat the defending champion, Alexei Popperin. But I would put those two Americans as kind of 1A, 1B to win the title. And then you have the likes of Zavarup and Arrub and a hot-off. right behind them. We encourage everybody to tune in on the TSN YouTube channel to see Mark Rowe. He looks unbelievable today. It's worth a look.

And Stradi, I know you agree. Guys, this is the best looking overdrive, I think, that they've had in years. I agree. I agree. We mentioned that off the top. They thought about not putting this on TV. And then the executive saw who was on the roster. And they're like, we're putting it back on TSNM.

Yeah. Yeah. They saw who the first guest was. That's it. We're like, yeah. And don't forget Tim Kirkagin as well. Tim Kirkagin as well, very handsome. And have you talked about Struddy's beautiful Edmonton tan right now?

Because it looks fantastic. Thank you. Thank you for noticing from one to another. It's nice to know it's another person to stand back. The first sunny day of 2025 in Edmonton today. So that's probably why. Thank you, Marky. All right.

Appreciate it, guys. All right. That's Mark Roe from TSN. Terrific stuff on Vicki and Boko. Is that a Marky? Is that a normal nickname? me getting out. Mark Rowe. You know, you just add the Y. It's a hockey thing. I'm trying to fit in with Struddy.

I don't know if you're in like that with Mark Rowe. We'll have to find out. I think it works better because that's the last name, right? Since that's maybe Rowy. Rosie. I think they're a rouser. But I understand you're probably a bit rattled the whole drive-in where Al's brother was talking to someone else. So you're not yourself right now, and I get it. So we'll give you a pass. Struddy, what is the Edmonton tennis scene like?

You guys have any tournaments roll through? Are you a tennis player yourself? You seem like a pickleball guy to me. Yeah, I just picked up tennis about two years ago and had some pretty significant wins in Division 6 at where I go. You know, mostly I played against other, not that I'm a mom, but moms. That's the level I was at and then I beat a couple of them, intimidate them, some trash talking, obviously. But some of them gave me a good beating too. So I'm hoping to move up to level five in the fall. Well, you're an imposing force at the net.

It wouldn't be easy to, you know, passing shots. I'm scared of the net. I like to sit back. I'm walking the line back and forth, like, you know, Morgan Riley back and forth on the baseline. Everyone's telling me to get up to the net. I don't want to go to the net because people hit it over my head, right? Then I have to run back.

Yeah, I'm not, I'm not, I just, I've never played just two years ago. I just started. It's a great sport. It's a great sport. I don't really play anything except golf. I'm afraid of getting hurt, so that's pretty much it. Like what, a hamstring or something? Yeah, I'll get, I'll hurt something.

and I'll hurt my shoulder and I can't play golf, then I'll just be utterly miserable. You don't want to hurt your golf outings. Remarkably conscious of potentially getting injured. Are you a good golfer? I'm okay. I'm all right. I'm like the same as Hayes.

Like we're both maybe like, you know, eights or nines. I'm in that region. I can play some golf, but I'm just very conscious of getting injured. Mr. Chips, I believe they got you. Bob Weeks. Bob Weeks did give me the nickname of Mr. Chips.

I'm very adept at chipping the golf ball. Not nothing else really, but just chipping is. by 4-10s. Soft. That's a nice thing to, that's a nice nickname to have. Yes. Wow.

On and off the course, Freddie. On and off the course. Not really in that case at all. So yeah, Tim Kirkagin, joining us in about half an hour here on overdrive. We'll talk about the Jays. Game two tonight. How many runs will they beat the Rockies by tonight? What's the spread?

Four and a half, five and a half runs. Let me check the over-under. We'll come back with the overrunner. It's Rios on the Hill. Confirm or deny coming up at 530. Steve Phillips in the show, Robert Turbin on the show. need to ask Robert, the three of us, all are fans of garbage NFL teams, although you might take issue with that. The Colts and Estrada, you're a Giants fan. I'm a Jets fan.

Oh, God. It's really rough here. It's really rough here, which are the three teams. Should we be most optimistic about it? We'll ask Robert Turbin about that a little bit later, an hour three of overdrive as we continue here in hour one. From tariffs to trade deals, the markets are changing. Is your portfolio ready for what comes next? all your questions, you need a money guy. Kelvin, the money guy, will help you develop a financial plan that includes the right levels of diversity. The best way to navigate uncertain times.

With strategic advice from Kelvin, you can not only protect your investments, you can grow them. Don't wait. Call 416-457 plan or visit ask kelvin.cai.a. Hour one of Overdrive continues. Karolnik Strudwick, Al's brother with you until 7 p.m. Tim Kirchin at 510. See, I nailed the pronunciation of his name.

Doogie came in during the break strutty and lectured me. Doogie runs a tight ship here. He wants all the guest names for you to be pronounced correctly. You know what? I heard you say it, and I was like, I don't think he's saying it right, but I can't even speak. Like, there should be subtitles all the time. So I wasn't going to criticize you. I did notice it, though, but I've never judged because I'm terrible at names.

I don't get my kids' names right. There's a reason. They stick me in the morning here on TSN. And that's probably my guess. Here's a name I can pronounce. Chris Boucher, Bonjour. Chris Bouchet has agreed to a one-year deal with the Boston Celtics.

Now, that is not overly relevant to the Toronto Raptors of 2025. But what it does signify is that every single member of the 2019 Raptors who won a title is now gone, which is pretty crazy. It was just six years ago and everybody's gone. Including the architect. Including the architect.

Well, Bobby Webster's still here. He was the GM then and Missai, you know, gets a lot of credit. I guess. Yeah, that's wild, man, and it's, like, time goes quickly. And in the NBA, it goes quicker than most because Boucher, he's gone and there's no one left. No, like Chris Boucher, in the last couple of years, it was like, he was the last of the ones to go. A couple of years ago was like Bambly, Pascal, Boucher was the holdover. It was only a matter of time, realistically.

But, yeah, it's so bizarre when you look back. It wasn't that long, like six years. It wasn't that long ago. Shane Bieber won a Cy Young five years ago. Yeah, this is true. He won a Cy Young five years. That's another thing we were yelling at each other, Struddy, in the car, about Shane Bieber. Well, you're trying to say, he's like, oh, he won a Cy Young five years ago.

We need to rely. I'm like, the guy has been outstanding since, though. Yes, but, I mean, Cy Young Award winner. It's like, yes. Trevor Bauer won the Cy Young the same year that Shane Bieber won the sign. It was a long time ago, is what I'm trying to say. Very different career arts afterwards. Very much so, but I'm just saying, that's very much so.

Very much so. I guess my point is that it was a long time ago. I'm very excited about what Shane Bieber could be as a Blue Jay, but I need to see it. And a couple more rehab starts again. Tim Kirkgin on that. But we are debuting the best Toronto sports trade bracket this week, Struddy. And I'm very disappointed that our boy Carlo Coliacovo and Alex Dean for Lee Stepniak is not on that. Maybe that would be one of the worst Toronto sports trades.

Beaver might be on here. Beaver could be. He could be. He could be. He could be. Jose Barrios is on it. Kauai Leonard is the number one seed. No surprise.

As you could see it up here on TSN4. Kauai is spelled wrong. It's okay. Joe from the bridge. JV.R. to the Leafs is the number eight seed. Kyle Lowry to the Raps. Jose Batista to the Jays, Donaldson, McCabe. Ricky Ray, in my opinion, should be the number two seed.

He led the Argos to two great cups. Coming from your Edmonton Eskimos at the time strutty, I believe you guys got Stephen Giles and a kicker in exchange for Ricky Ray. and you have not won a game in Edmonton since. No, the old Elks aren't doing that well, but I remember when that trade came down. I was like, what are we doing here? And it felt like the team was trying to tank.

Like, Ricky Ray was pretty good. Well, no, sorry, Ricky was really good. And still, you know, I had a lot of years coming up and it didn't seem like you wanted to leave. That's an interesting. I think I look at those lists. I think that's a really good one. When I think of all time, I think it's a Doug Gilmore trade.

To me, that's the number one trade of all time. For any, sorry, any, sorry, Toronto area team now looking at 2000, have to recalibrate that a bit because that list is okay. I wouldn't say it's life-changing for some of those. Yes, yes, since 2000, we should correct. You might be wondering why deals made in the 70s and the 80s aren't on there. It's because it's the last 25 years, quarter century. But Kauai is going to be tough to beat simply because there's a direct line from Kauai

the tray with the Rosen and Pertil in a first round pick for Kauai Leonard and Danny Green. And Danny Green. Again, Danny Green, you can't underrate his. He was starting for the Raptors in the NBA finals. He was really, really good for the Toronto Raptors. He almost pissed it away in game six, but we don't need to rehash that because it didn't happen. He did. And again, the Donaldson trade is one that I remember. I was in the Grey Cup in Vancouver when that deal went down. That was a November deal that the Jay's made. And of course, he wins an MVP and helps turn around that entire franchise. And I don't think any of those pieces that they gave up a mountain to really anything. Isn't that very common with Jay's trades? Like we think about the Brillo's deal and we think about the David Price trade, the Troy Tooliewiczky trade. And, I mean, you even mentioned the Donaldson deal. There's nothing really substantial that came and bit the Blue Jays and the behind that prospect-wise. The R.A. Dickey trade.

My, my, that was, they gave up Noah Sindigard going on to have an unbelievable career. And Dickie kind of. He was hurt a lot. He was, when he was healthy. had like a solid four-year run where he's like Cy Young Calibur, starting the world, like Noah Cinegar was a stud. And he was a stud, like, right when they dealt him, too.

That was, and Travis Darno was in that trade, too, I believe. That one maybe bit them a little bit, but that was, that was prior. That was, that was, what, 2013, the Anthopolis years. When they tried to go for it that one year, that's a big offseason. Huge. Huge winter meetings for, uh, for double A there.

Uh, and then it took him a couple years to get the prospects in order and then made those trades again in 15, 16, it went for it. Um, but yeah, I would say probably Kauai's got to win that one. I would think so. Kauai and, but, Batista, they trade him for like a player to be named later. It was like future consideration. Yeah.

It was nothing. Yeah. Which I guess you could argue makes it a better trade in that the Raptors gave up a lot, DeRosen, hurdle, and a first round pick for Kauai. The Jays gave up nothing for Jose Batista, who turns out to be one of the best players of franchise history. So you could make a case for that in that respect. I mean, the same thing kind of applies to Kyle Lowry.

there wasn't a huge expenditure as far as trading for him. So that's going to be a very fascinating bracket. You can go on the TSN 1050 Twitter. We'll retweet it on the overdrive Twitter as well. I still call it Twitter. I refuse to call it X. I'm an old school guy. I'm an old school guy, apparently.

So you can go there and cast your vote for the best Toronto sports trade of the last 25 years. I will be debating it all week long here on TSN 1050. I'm Aaron Kornik. That is Jason Strudwick. That is Michael DeStefano. We've got two hours of quality. Sports Talks still on the way. Tim Kirkagin from ESPN to kick off hour number two after this.

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