OverDrive - OverDrive - August 7, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

Join Aaron Korolnek and Michael DiStefano for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discussed Victoria Mboko’s amazing run at the National Bank Open. We discuss the Jays’ record-setting series against the Rockies. TSN Tennis reporter Mark Masters joins us to preview the NBO finals.

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three great duos completely unrelated to the ones on your TV and radio as we welcome you into Overdrive on this Thursday afternoon. Hello, Canada. I'm Aaron Kourlnick. That's my friend, Mike DeStefano. We're holding it down for the next three hours. Great to see you again, my friend. Thanks, buddy. who's uh who's gretsky who's messy in this one that's a very interesting question i guess i guess like you're you're the setup guy right like you're the setup to the guy retzky is the all time assist leader he's also he's no longer the all time goal leader he's a stiff yeah he's no longer

the old time goal leader what one of the one of the greatest like you know little bits of like trivia knowledge that you were able to use as a a fun little stat pack was always oh Did you know that if Wayne Gretzky never scored a goal in the NHL, he would have more points than anyone else who ever played the game, and then the back half of it was, oh, and he also scored more goals than anyone else who ever played the game, you could no longer use the little back half of that. OV came in and ruined that for all of us. That phrase is now dead.

You're right. And on the drive up, tails from the car, the carpool, which actually featured a third entrant today, your roommate Cam, who's actually a producer here at TSN 1050 as well. We tasked him with coming up with trivia questions. for us on the drive up and it took it maybe 25 minutes to come up with a single one. It was very daunting task for him as well, but it was quite the drive up and it actually started with some controversy as he was seated in the back as I met you guys downtown Toronto and basically the idea was that because I'm older than him, he felt it would be a very

respectful thing. That's how he grew up, but kind of insulting. I'm not that old. Were you insulted by it? It's not like I've got it. It's not like I've got to my walker and I'm coming into the... Would you prefer to sit in the backseat? No, no, no, I, well, maybe. You would have played chauffeur. You would have to play chauffeur. Yesterday, you had waters and today there were no waters. So you wouldn't be a very good Uber driver house, brother. I didn't have three. So it's kind of like, you know, when you go into class, if you don't have enough for everyone, you just don't bring it. I'm like, I don't have enough waters for the whole class. I got a two water limit, and that was it. So we couldn't bring

the waters today. Listen, my water bottles are hard to come by these days. You're a very environmentally friendly individual. You take care of everything. You like to reuse things. And I think that's probably the main reason why you didn't have a secondary water bottle. But as I'm sure the audience can tell, my voice, not at 100%. And we've been trying to come up with remedies for that, including a visit to a local establishment to pick up a tea, which I think did something. I think it's worked a little bit. A little bit. When you first stepped into my car. Oh, it was tough. It was tough. I'm sitting, I'm like, how are we going to get through three hours it's still a reasonable question now there are varying debates as to why this is happening i've

heard it from a couple people who are dealing with sore throats which i'm not it's not a sore throat or anything i'm not sick it's just the voice and i think it's the air quality perhaps and you know we don't need to get into all that stuff but it's not good in Toronto it's terrible congestion up in the yeah nasal throat area yeah exactly so that's not exactly ideal but we make up with or with our good looks right so this is a tv tv tv show and a YouTube show, and our strong sports takes, of which there will be numerous today on the show, not only from us,

but from our terrific guests like Mark Masters, Egan Matheson, and Dave Naylor, Big Night and the Hammer tonight. Shea Gilgis Alexander, not only night, but day in the city, he's getting the key to the city and we were having this joke, and listen, I apologize, the people of Hamilton were watching

this, but do you think when Shea Gilgis Alexander's having conversations with his NBA brethren, do you think he tells me it's from Toronto or from Hamilton? Oh, Toronto. He definitely is like, oh, you're from Toronto. Oh, nice. That's a great city.

It's close to Toronto. You know, Hamilton, no, I don't. Yeah. And I guarantee you, Hamiltonians, who already hate me, listen, I am a passionate Toronto Argonauts fan. I hate the Thai cats with like real serious fervor to the point where by far Thai cats fans are the ones that I dislike the most when it comes to opposing sports fans.

But I just wonder if that's a reasonable question. probably on Shea Gildjus Alexander day and night, not worthy of conversing about this, but... I don't think it's slander against Hamilton or Hamilton. It's just Hamilton, oh, where's that is the typical question. Close to Toronto. Close to Toronto. It's like, oh, it's close to Toronto.

It's just Toronto, you get rid of the back and forth. It's like, oh, nice. Yeah, very good for you. Quality City, I think the best slice of pizza in North America can be found in Hamilton. Arkells from Hamilton. Yeah, Mark Roe, and Shea, Gilder's Alexander. And Bo Levi Mitchell lives there now, too. The MOPP favorite right now.

now. The tie cast is looking for their seventh straight win. And it's going to be a fun night. It's going to be a fun night seeing a fun game. Bo versus Nathan Rourke, Hamilton, B.C, and Gilgis Alexander. I imagine it'll be on the CFL and TSN broadcast. So I'm really looking forward to watch that. I also looking forward to watching Vicki and Boko tonight. And I will be completely frank that I was not remotely interested in this story two weeks ago. I didn't think this was a possibility. It wasn't a story.

It wasn't a story. I didn't know who Vicki and Boko was two weeks ago. Yeah. I thought she was a made-up name, but now she's a star on the national level to the point where last night, I'm sitting around, you know, of course, the J's had already won 20 to 1. We come home from our fantastic evening together hosting Overdrive last night, Mike, and I know when Boko was in the second site, she got, you know, kind of beaten that, beaten down in the first set. Robocana, Robocana took it to her in the first set. You're like, okay, maybe this is the it for, this is the end of her. Stories coming to an end a little bit. And then she finds a way instead number two.

And then there's a crazy tie break going on and I'm watching it. And I couldn't believe the level of investment that I had of someone I did not know a week ago. I am standing up and screaming like, please, Vicki, get this done. Oh, I was so into it. And again, I'm not the biggest tennis guy at all. I didn't even have any money on this. Like zero. Yeah, yeah.

I had no cash on in Bogo. And you were still watching it. It was pure investment as far as the Canadian. And I'm a huge fan. It's impressive, man. Osaka tonight is playing really well. It could be challenging. Oh, well, Osaka, I mean, like, obviously she's coming back.

She hasn't played in a little bit. So she's still working away back. But, like, I think in Boko yesterday even came out and was like, I grew up rooting for Osaka. And how old is Osaka? I grew idolizing Osaka. Like 25? Yeah, she's probably her mid, mid to late 20s at this point.

But she's 18 years old. Not even 19 at all. So even if, if, you know, Osaka was winning championship. She was eight years ago. She was 10 years old, very impressionable. It makes a lot of sense that she would be someone that she idolized and grew up. Like, that's kind of pre-Sarina in a way, right? Like, like Serena was more so the 2000s and late, early 2010s,

and then kind of Osaka came onto the scene. And so it makes sense that that would be the woman she grew up idolizing. And now she has an opportunity to beat her and win her first title on the tour. I guess the hockey player is coming up, like the Gavin McKenna's, their favorite player growing up was Connor Bedard? Like, well, maybe, maybe. What did you mean, Carter, but, like, five years ago?

Like David. Yeah. Bidard and, you know, in the dub, it's just dominating everybody. That's a, at the world juniors. Those could be formative memories for those guys. But I think the point remains that what Mboko is doing, it's truly spectacular. She is a plus 150 underdog on Fandul tonight. So clearly the sports book's looking at Osaka as the favorite.

And rightfully, so she's playing some great tennis, ran into a couple of people in the hall who are a lot more knowledgeable with tennis than I. and there's a little bit of a grimace when I asked for their thoughts on how Mboko would fare against Osaka. So hopefully she could overcome the odds. Robocano was the favorite also, right, going into that match. And she found a way to get it done. It was a gritty performance watching that last night. I tuned in, you know, to watch the third set once we got home, watching the third set, watch her come back.

And then in the point break there, being able to come back a couple of times and finally finish her off. And I thought that it was great. It was fantastic. Can't wait to shout, Mark Masters. I believe he was in attendance last night in Montreal. And it seemed like a lively crowd for Mboko last night. I had imagined the same tonight. It's going to be wild.

And hope, man, if she can come through, her star will rise to a point in this country. I think about what this is worth for her financially. Oh, dude. I already think she's making some good money now off the court. I'm sure people will want to invest in her, advertiser, sponsors. But if she wins the National Bank Open, I think she gets up to 25 in the world with a win tonight over Osaka. Wow.

That could be worth it. She started in the 300s at the beginning of the year? She was 303 at the beginning of the year. And now she could be 25 after tonight. That is a rapid ascent. And what's awesome about is she has an opportunity to parlay it into other things. Like if she can come out and win this tournament, win the National Open, and then all of a sudden it's looking forward.

It's like, okay, now she'll be a ranked tennis player for the U.S. Open in a couple of weeks. She'll be ranked as if she's top 25, she'll be a ranked player. And now all of a sudden you look at it, it's like, okay, this is very reminiscent to what happened back in 2019 with Bianca and Drescue. You know, like she had a stretch of wins leading up to the

Canadian Open, if I recall, and then won that one, and then went on and won the U.S. Open. And unfortunately, injuries got the best of her, and she really wasn't ever able to reclaim that magic as, you know, the face of tennis here in Canada. But if Mboko can stay healthy, and if she can continue,

We had Brad Gilbert on yesterday, very astute, you know, tennis man, and he came out and said she could be a top five player in the world, top five player in the world potentially. So, you know, a win tonight against Osaka would definitely go a long way to prove in those who believe she could be that good, definitely will prove them right. Let's hope it happens. Just after 6 o'clock, it is in Boko versus Osaka,

and there is no Jay's action tonight. It's really unfortunate. We won't get to see them put up 20 runs again or 15 runs or 3rd. 13 runs, 25 hits. And some of the stats associated with that three game destruction of the Colorado Rocks. I know you put together a stat pack. Yeah. About just what they were able to do.

So they are about to embark on a very difficult stretch of baseball. You play the Dodgers for three. Again, think about the stiffs. They're a harder swing. Yeah. The Rockies and Coors Field to the Dodgers at Dodgers swing. And like the Dodgers are throwing out Kershaw, Snell, and Yamamoto. over the next three nights versus whatever losers the Rockies just had.

That Kirshah-Shirzer matchup tomorrow. I can't wait. That will be. You are anti-Max Scherzer. I don't know why. I am way more pro-Max Scher's than you. No, I'm not anti-Machshir's. You're more of a Shane Bieber guy, which is fine.

I know you saw him in Buffalo, but I am a lot higher on the prospects of Max Schurzer starting meaningful baseball games for the Toronto Blue Jays than you are, which is totally fine. Well, if he can mow down that Dodgers lineup tomorrow, maybe that'll start to change my mind. My mind can be changed. Like there's still, there's what, seven weeks to go in the baseball season before we get to October, before we get

to the playoffs. Still a lot of time for Max Scherzer to figure it out and down the stretch, dominate and force himself into that conversation to be a game one, two, or three starter over a guy like Bieber, over a Burrios, over a Bassett, maybe even over a Kevin Gosman. If Barrowell

could happen, I just need to see it over the course of the next seven weeks to say that. But right now, it's more of a question mark, is all I'm saying. But you beat the Dodgers? That's one of the best lineups in baseball. Be it be a World Series preview. I mean, it could be.

Could be. If the Blue Jay is going to hit the way if they've been hitting over the last couple of days. Well, on that subject, what does that series that the Blue Jays just concluded with the Colorado Rockies mean in the larger scheme for this team? Now, I think you could look at it two ways, right? Number one is the Dodgers.

It's Coors Field. They've won 30 games. They are, yeah, sorry, the Rockies. They are historically bad. But alternatively, all the records that the Blue Jays set in Colorado, like, they're doing things that have never been done. Okay, here's-1901, 1901. They had 63 hits over a three-game stretch, the most in MLB history,

in a three-game series. They had a plus 39 run differential, the largest in a three-game series since 1936. Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrick were on those teams. Joe DiMaggio. and Lou Gehrer? Joe DiMaggio. We got Davis, DiMaggio, ourselves, Belt and Homer's. Davis, DeVis. Yeah, not Babe Schneider.

It's now Davis DiMaggio now out here at Belton Home Runs. 13 home runs over the course of the series. Nearly 10% of their entire 2025 output in this series alone. That's what's wild. And one stat that I made note of yesterday was the performance of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lately since the All-Star break, his numbers. have been ridiculous.

And I was looking at WRC Plus. You're a stats nerd. You know all these numbers, what they mean. Yeah. Basically, it's, you know, comparative around baseball as far as all hitters. And Vlad moved up to ninth in Major League Baseball at WRC Plus after yesterday's performance against Colorado.

Since the All-Star? No, that's in total. That's through the whole season. Wow. No. And again, that is not the B-O-N-O. We know Vlad's power hasn't been there like a lot of people would like. But I think his OPS is creeping up to 900.

I think he's in the 880s now. Now, of course, is on base percentage as good as anybody in baseball. Has Vlad Jr. lived up to the $500 million? No, of course not. You would probably need a season in line with Cal Raleigh or Aaron Judge to do that. But I think it's pretty clear he's been as expected. Like, if you expected more from Vlad Jr. this year, on the overall, maybe the power notwithstanding.

And I'm not sure how repeatable. He had 48 home runs in 2021. He's probably never doing that again. He may never hit 35 again. but if he gets you a 30 home runs-ish and does what he does elsewhere. He's up to 18 now after hitting back-to-back days hit into the seats.

Now, his numbers look decent. And I think for the Blue Jays, their lineup is so deep. And once you get George Springer back and maybe you get Santander back, you never know. Mitzel, you get both those guys back, and it's difficult to fit everybody in.

Alejandro Kirk's playing full-time again. Looks like he's good to go for, certainly played a couple days ago. Heidman's been in there. Yeah. But I guess my point is that, Vlad is Vlad and Bichette is Bichet, the way that they've been going of late, and you have all that depth down your lineup,

and you augment that with the Springers and the Kierks and the other guys. I mean, the lineup just runs so deep now with Varsho hitting Dingers the way that he's been hitting. Of course, we've seen, that's all he does. Nathan Lucas has been really good for this team. 11 of his 24 hits have been home runs. Andre's Jimenez is not far away from returning either. I mean, the lineup is very deep, and we've talked a lot about the rotation, which I'm not going to say is unassailable, but it's good.

Like they have really good options. At the open, you had Dominguez in the back end, and you make the trade, and you bring in Varlent from Minnesota. Jimmy Garcia, maybe comes back at some point. There's a lot of reasons to believe in this team, especially relative to the rest of the American League, who is not imposing. If you would deal with the Dodgers and the Phillies and the Mets and the Cubs and the Brewers,

that's one thing. But in the American League, Toronto is as good as any of them. You get healthy and you get some good luck on your side. There could be some crazy stuff happening in Toronto. Absolutely. It's wide open. Obviously, what the Red Sox are doing, like, that looks like a team that's peaking at the right time. Obviously, post-all-star break.

That nice little win street. They won, what, 10 games in a row leading into the break? And then they came out and they've won. And they've won. in a title race here. Like, although everyone wants a clown on the Yankees and what's going on there, they're no longer the team that I think Toronto should be worried about. It is the Red Sox.

Like, that's the team that I'd be worried about, you know, if you're the Blue Jays and not safe they're taking them lightly, but look at this upcoming sked that they have here. Yeah, right now, you have the Boston Red Sox four games back. But you had talked about this upcoming schedule. You've got the Dodgers, you've got the Rangers. Like, and the Cubs. And then the Cubs right after that, right?

That four game lead can quickly go if you don't, play your best baseball. So this stretch coming up for the Blue Jays might be one of the biggest stretches of the year for them. And it'll be a big litmus test. It'll be the barometer of what they are. Are they truly among the elites of Major League Baseball? Like we'll find out in the next couple of weeks. Well, I think they are regardless of nine games. A nine game period is not going to. I think the Blue Jays and the American League are as good as anybody. I think that's just a fact. In the National League, you worry about that if you get to the World Series. But I think the place that the Blue Jays are in, relative to the rest of their opponents in their league,

they have to be feeling very good about a matchup against Detroit or Houston or Boston or Seattle or Texas or whoever it might be. And he's still got to get there. Again, you are right. The next nine games are against three of the better teams in baseball, for sure. But this Blue Jays team has shown itself to be very capable. I think George Springer is probably coming back soon, which will be a huge boost to the Jays. You can't understand what he's done for this team.

And, again, if you get Vlad going, Bishap. That's been going for a while, and then you add Springer back in the lineup, those three guys together. And Dalton Varsho seemingly hitting home runs every single night he's in there. Like, there's a lot of reasons to believe, man. It's a great time to be a Blue Jays fan. And I can't wait for this series against the Dodge. Some late nights, but worthy of staying up to see these guys play.

It will be. Luckily, it's a weekend. So you can definitely stay up and watch those. You know my sleep schedule now after this week. Like, I don't sleep. Yeah, you're an old man. You're in bed by night. I go to sleep really early and I wake up really early.

I mean, you're a morning guy. We're the opposite. We are very much. Like, I'm going to bed when you're waking up. Like, that's not quite that. No, it's it. You go to bed at, you wake up, sometimes you go to bed at four or five in the morning. There are some nights where that could be the case.

Not if I'm working, you know, working, you know, gameplay or be the next day, but. But if you're not. There's some nights. Who knows what could happen in Niagara Falls region. I'm, uh, I would add the what they call nighthawks, night owls? Night owls. That's me. Yeah.

I used to be a night owl and then I got a job doing morning radio. Yeah. That doesn't. That doesn't work. But the Blue J's like, What impresses me is the depth of this lineup. And going into the All-Star break, how many times did we say, yeah, like, Vladdy, if he can get going, that'd be awesome.

But we're going to see some regression from some of these other guys, the, you know, the bargers, the Clements, you know, even like maybe Alejandro Kirk or David Schneider. And we have, we have at times. Not really, though. Like, you look at from, since the All-Star break, you're looking at this team's lineup, and everyone is raking. Like, you talk about WRC Plus. So the way that stat works is the,

baseline of league average is 100. Anything above that is basically how many percentage points above 100 you are better than as an offensive player than league average. They have 15 players right now since the All-Star break, who are at least 11% better than league average. That's ridiculous. Now, the Colorado series helped them in a major way. Probably.

But we're talking about 20-game sample size for a majority of these guys. They did score how many runs in that Colorado series? It's 45, 45, 45 for a three games. So that helps. But again, if people were trying to take away and denigrate Toronto's performance of Colorado, it's, of course, feel, that's this, that's like they set a record in the history of the sport for hits. You know what I, that's the key word, though, hits. It's not the runs that impresses me or the whole run.

It's 63. You hit the ball 63 times. You put it in place 63 times. That's impressive, right? Whether it's a single, a double, a triple, a home run, and we saw plenty of all of those. over the weekend. You put that ball in play, it's impressive. And there's a lot of parks where the way they were hitting the ball

still would have been able to put up runs. Maybe not 45. Maybe 13. Maybe 25. But they might have still been able to put up some offense. The approach at the plate for these Blue Js is pretty solid. And it's still amazing to me to turn around from last year to this year

in so many offensive categories. And it's all pretty much internal improvement. Like they haven't added anyone externally that's done any damage. Like Santander was supposed to be that guy Well, he hasn't played in two months And the team's just taken off offensively Since he left, essentially

Same thing with Jimenez, Anders Jimenez, what has he done? He's barely played also. I have made this point many times Is that if the Blue Jays didn't sign anybody in the office It'd be in a better position. It may be better. And they spent quite a bit of money. Again, they traded for him and is from Cleveland

and he makes, what, $95 million on his contract, Santander around the same thing. Scher now has been really solid since coming back from the injury the second injury you want to call with that the thumb and then he was dealing with something else so he's been back maybe five six starts he's been good for the Jays

but again they spent a lot of money and have not gotten a lot of production just imagine if they did what this team could look like what if Sontander does come back and I still think that's a stretch Jimenez I think is going to come back and play for them immediately I think Springer's going to come back

and play for them so there will be some difficult decisions that this team has to make as far as their lineup goes and who stays and who goes, but these are good decisions. These are good dilemmas to have. When you have too many good players, that is something I think every baseball club would sign up for. The Toronto Blue Jays seem to be in that spot. Well, how often do we talk about, like even in hockey, where coaches and GMs want to have

competition, especially in training camp, because they want to have people compete with one another internally and internal growth and have people, you know, competition brings the best out of everybody. And we've seen that because once everyone's healthy, like you're going to have good players who are going to be sitting out, right? Like, there's not enough spots for, you know, Miles Straff, for, like, Addison Barger to be an everyday player, for Davis Schneider to be an everyday player.

It sounds like Lo Perfito, you know, didn't get injured as much as we thought. So Lo Perfito is going to factor in down the stretch here. Doesn't look like he's going to spend, you know, any time on the IL, maybe Keegan will have an update on that. But, like, there's too many players that are contributing right now and not enough spots in the infield. You got to keep playing well to earn your keep, to earn your spot in the lineup.

Yes, 45 to 6 was the score at aggregate for Toronto and Colorado when that three-game set. The second largest run differential between teams in a three-game series since 1901. Pretty good run there. You want to know what one of my favorite stats is right now in the season here? I do indeed, Michael. So since Michael K made his various. Oh, run differential. That infamous cry that this is a.

in a serious baseball team, not a first place baseball team because of their run differential, which was, well, plus four, I think, at the time, which, yeah, it's not, it's not great. Now, you go plus 39 in one series. That'll help. That'll help. Since Michael Kay made that comment, the Blue Jays have a plus 49 run differential. The Yankees, minus 15. Huh, interesting.

What say you? The K curse. Michael K. I will say, thinking about run differential, like what they, The Js just did to Colorado. He said 39 run differential there, plus 39. Yeah, so plus 10 outside. You got to like, you got to maybe, you know, take that.

Plus 10 outside of that. Colorado, my God. It's a bad, bad baseball. Tough go. They had leads. They had a couple leads as well. Yes. They were up, they were up one nothing to third inning.

Yeah. And I'm like, uh-uh. And then all of a sudden. Bobeship, blast one out there. And then it was just, it abs. No, I didn't realize because we were live on air. Remember we kind of blinked and all of a sudden It went from like 14 to 20 to nothing

Oh they brought in some a catcher They brought in a position A catcher and he was just lobbing They was literally bat in practice Lobbing things out there They scored eight runs on this poor Poor catcher It's like pulling the goalie

It's a go ahead guys Yeah Scores as many goals as you possibly want That's pretty much it Yeah it was It was interesting So yeah Keegan Matheson from MLB dot com Regular contributor here on Overdrive

We'll join the program in about 40 minutes It's the nail gun, Dave Naylor, who's been covering Bill's camp and, of course, the Canadian Football League, so a lot of things to get into with Dave when he joins us in hour number three. And Mark Masters, live from La Belle Provence, Montreal, out of the final between Mbocco and Osaka. We'll catch up with Mark next. Hour one of Overdrive continues. Beautiful Thursday afternoon. Have we had a bad day of weather in the Toronto area in the last three weeks?

It seems every day is 30 degrees and sunny. It's incredible. It's been nice. It has been a very, very solid summer in terms of, well, it's been too hot at times. No, no, no. Now, there's been some days where it's been brutally hot, and it's like, I can't go outside. I got to stick with the AC. Those have been there.

Oh, for sure. That's very disappointing. I expect more from you. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. All right, so this match tonight, we have Mboko and Osaka in Montreal. And I would qualify this as one of the more. unlikely matches you'll ever see in a final considering Mboko came from virtually nowhere as

a couple months ago and Osaka since coming back from having her child I don't believe she's reached even a quarter final in any quality tournament since then so she's back in a prominent spot tonight of course Vicki Mboko is as well and down in Montreal we are joined by one of our favorites it's our man mark masters live on location mark how we feel ahead of this big match tonight. I'm feeling really excited, feeling good. I just watched Vicki and Boko finish her warm-up. We're out here tucked away on the side of the venue, Court 8.

Her wrist taped up, but did not see any outward signs of pain or frustration with it. Pretty standard warm-up hit here. She's just talking with her team. One last pep talk with Coach Natalie Tozziad, and yeah, I'm pumped up. This is a pretty big night, guys. It is, it is. And that triumph last night was special. It was a long, grueling match.

I think two hours and 46 minutes is what it took. And, of course, we know the injury that Mboko was dealing with. She's a young player, Mark. We know Osaka's got a ton of experience. How much do you think the turnaround so quickly will affect these two combatants? Yeah, I think it's definitely a storyline going in. I was just talking to Noel Van Lottom. She's the head of Women's Tennis for Tennis Canada.

And she said, you know, Mboko is young. She recovers fast, but you just don't know. There is a question. this will be the first time in the tournament she plays on consecutive days so she's had a day off between all the other matches Osaka is going to be playing for a third straight day she had to finish later

than in Boko last night and said at her news conference she was a little sleepy so quick turnaround for both players you would hope just being 18 years old a teenager in Boko will be able to have that kind of bounce back ability and there's the adrenaline of a final and the crowd is going to be electric and carry her through

she seemed to respond she said the wrist was feeling better after the match in the moment you know it hurt her kind of spirits and whatnot but from what we just saw I think she'll be all right and yeah but that's the question is kind of you know it's pretty hot here today how are these two players

going to react to uh to the very kind of quick turnaround here so mark I'll take you back to last night we'll just look at the journey here from imboko like obviously beating cocoa golf was considered you know a massive upset and then went on to to to

to kind of handily beat her, then went on to impressively come back last night against Robikina. When you look at how, you know, she was able to come back after losing 6-1 in that opening set, which one of those two do you think was kind of more impressive for you? It's the one last night. That, to me, that was a lot of grit.

Like, get kind of pumped in the first set, 6-1, don't hold serve even once. And then you blow leads of 3-11, 5-3, and find a way to win a second, say you have the fall, you hurt your wrist, you're not feeling good, you're facing a Grand Slam, you know, champion, big server on the other side, leads the tour in Aces,

and then, you know, you keep falling behind a break into the deciding set, and you keep coming back, you get to the kind of the final set tie break, you, you know, are you going to blink, she doesn't do it with all that was on the line there. So to me, it was last night, I mean, golf's going through some stuff right now, her serves a bit of a mess. There's a lot of double faulting happening. She was, I kind of, it felt like she was there to be had. Rebeccaana has had some troubles closing.

But to me, last night, that's a quality win, a signature win. We'll see what happens. But to me, that last night was just the most impressive win that she's had here. Mark Masters, live from Montreal ahead of Mboko versus Osaka in the NBO final. Mark, you chronicle the sport of tennis. You've been doing a great job of it for a long time. You saw the rise of Eugenie Bouchard. You saw the rise of Bianca on Drescue.

How would you, and Lela Fernandez certainly as well would qualify? How would you characterize what we've seen from Mboko? compared to those three? You know what? I think this is most similar to Shappavala, maybe, in terms of the rise. Like, he kind of came out of nowhere

to make the semifinals here in 2017. You know, it wasn't ranked particularly high. You know, I'drescue when she went on to win in 2019 in Toronto. She had already won Indian Wells. She had been hurt a lot that season. So there's questions about where she'd be physically. But, you know, she was already established

as a big game kind of player there with that run that she had. And so I think this is kind of unique in a way. And now I think we're going to see something tonight that we haven't seen before in Canadian tennis. You know, Atrescue wins that final in Toronto. When Serena Williams retires from the match, four games in, it was anticlimatic.

You know, Milos Rounich in 2013 made the final here against Raffa Nidal. But it was a 6262 loss. So we didn't really get the intense kind of moment, the payoff. And I think we could see that here tonight. A Canadian battling for the trophy at the biggest tournament this country's got in its home soil. It's going to be a cool moment tonight.

Well, and what will this mean for Mboku? Like we heard her say she grew up idolizing Osaka, a chance to face her on home soil and a chance to win, you know, a title here. That'd be pretty incredible. Yeah, I mean, it would be something. I was, you know, looking at the match, you know, notes they give us. She'd be the second youngest player to beat four Grand Slam champions on Route 2. to a title since Serena Williams.

That's a pretty good company with the only one younger to do that in the same tournament. So, like, you're looking for markers here to see, you know, we know she's a special player. How good is she going to be? You don't want to get carried away. I mean, 2014, I can't tell you how many interviews

I probably did where, you know, the questions were like, not if Jeannie Bouchard is going to win a grand slam, but how many. So it's easy to get carried away in the moment. Players go on ups and downs and injuries play a big role in things too, right? on Drescue probably would, you know, who knows where she'd be at if she'd been able to be healthy.

And unfortunately, here in Montreal, she had the injury that forced her to retire or withdraw after that first round win. So you don't want to get carried away, but it's pretty clear in Boko's a special player and she's got that kind of mental X factor, that fight, that grit. I was talking to Sylvan Bruno, who coached Endrescue to that amazing run in 2019. And he was just saying she's the game of the future. She can attack, she can defend, she moves well, and she's clearly got the fight. and the mental side.

So you don't want to get carried away, but this is, you know, every step of the way, it just kind of makes you think that this is going to be a really special career that's just starting out here. Mark Masters with us. If Mboko wins, she moves up to 25th in the world rankings.

If she were to lose, she'd be 35th. So regardless, a massive jump for her. Where does that take her not only as far as the tennis world goes, Mark, but with sponsorships, endorsements, and the like? Yeah, well, I mean, this is, you know, this is a player that at the beginning of this tournament

did not have a picture on her bio page on the WTA website. Let's, you know, let's that sink in for a moment. So you go to her page, it's a silhouette. You know, that was the case when she beat Coco Gauph. People know her name. People know her face. If she went tonight, she'll be seated at the U.S. Open.

I guess it's always possible she could sneak in if she's 35, depending on the health of other players. And maybe she's still technically entered in Cincinnati, which has already started, by the way, It's a weird scheduling. They've really pushed everything together this year with the longer master's events. So she could gain some more points

if she even gets there. I would imagine she might choose rest after this pretty great grueling stretch here. But people are going to know her. There's no going to be, there's no one, she's going to be sneaking up on anymore, right? Other players are going to know her.

They're going to be looking for it. No one's going to be taking it easy against her. And there's going to be a bit more expectation and pressure, for sure when it comes to, you know, when she saddles up to the U.S. open, right? You know, people are going to expect her to do things. I'm sure, you know, based on this, she might get some more night matches or be put in on some big courts. You know, the U.S. Open loves a young up-and-coming

players. So she's, she's arrives. And now the, you know, this has been kind of all new underdog territory here. There'll be another stage coming up. And, you know, that's always tricky. I was talking to Laila Annie Fernandez earlier today and about her Cinderella run and the key to handling that. And she talks about, you know, people change, sometimes they change their teams. You know, they get a bigger entourage and it changes things. and she felt it was important to kind of keep her team small. You know, I remember Jeannie Bouchard, after that amazing run in 2014, to start 2015, she had a new coach, a new agent.

It felt like she changed a lot of things, and obviously she never really recapture the magic. So it's not easy, right? There's a reason why it's not most players that can maintain it at this level. So it'll be a new stage in her career, but everything we've seen so far would lead us to believe that she can handle it. Mark, thank you for the time today. Enjoy the match tonight.

Have you made a visit to Schwartz's? since you've been in Montreal. I haven't had a chance. Maybe tomorrow before I leave, but, yeah, that would be nice. All the best, the best. Because I was looking at the lease schedule to see when I'm back in Montreal, and I don't think, obviously, they have a pre-season trip, but I don't think they're back until November.

So I'd like to get a little smoke meat just to tide me over, but we'll see. I think my flight's in the morning tomorrow. You can figure out. It's open late, I think. They'll stay open late for you, Mark. Come on. I'll not endorse you what happens here. All right, thanks, man.

Maybe in Boko will go and... Oh, that's a good idea. And I can tag along. That'd be nice. Take Vicky over there. Thank you. Thank you. That is Mark Masters from TSN.

You a fan of Schwartz's in Montreal? You a deli guy? I've never had it. I've heard, obviously, amazing things about it. I do love a good Montreal Smoke Meat Sandy. So at some point, I will get over there and I will get one, yes. Oh, it's fantastic. Haven't yet, though.

It is a great time. Yeah. I love the Montreal. Good food scene. It's good scene in general. Oh, Montreal. Lots of culture in Montreal. It's a time, man.

It is a time. You come back from Montreal. I remember when I returned from Montreal, I went to a music festival a couple years ago. And I was in rough shape for a couple of weeks. It was like I just got back from battle. Like, I was herding a major way. The people of Montreal, they can take it deep, unlike myself.

I'm an old man. I got nothing left. Yeah, you sit in the front seat. Apparently air quality is affecting my way of life these days. That's a type of lifestyle that I lead today. So it's come and gone for yours, truly. But Montreal, it's quite the time. Big show still ahead.

Kegan Matheson in about 20 minutes. The nail gun Dave Naler at 605, huge CFL night, huge tennis night. Vicki and Boko. We'll see if she can get it done just after 6 o'clock. Overdrive continues on TSN2, TSN1050, and TSN's YouTube channel. Hour 1 continues. JP are the ones and twos, our resident DJ at Tech. producer.

Did I call him PJ or JP? Did I say? Did I say? JP? Okay, good. I am a little delirious. So, well, the bright lights.

The bright lights and the congestion. Yeah. Setting me back in a little bit, but we're all good here. 530, A.B's list. Dark Horse, Team Canada, Olympic team candidates. Is Sidney Crosby, part of your Dark Horse? Team Canada.

No, he's on your team? He's a lot. Yes, he is. One of those six announced? He's, that's true. He's already a lot. Listen, I'm trying to segue from topic to topic here, Michael.

You know how it works in radio. It is Cindy Crosby's birthday, 38 years old. And I would say that August 7th, 1987 is probably the most famous birthday in hockey, simply because of 87th. Cindy Crosby. How many other hockey players' birthdays do you know?

September 17th. Ovee and Matthews. Okay. And Matthew Nyes, actually. Okay. Creep. I believe Gretzky's birthday is the same as Tiger Woods in December. I'm going to say December 30th.

I could be completely off on that. Look it up. But my point remains that today is a very special day for hockey because... January 26th. Oh, okay. Not even the right one. The tiger's birthday, maybe December 30th. If that's the case, you're completely wrong.

Tiger shares a birthday with someone of prominence. That I know. December 30th. Yes. Okay, that was right. One for two. It's not bad. We'll take 50%.

But Crosby... Do you share a birthday with anyone, any sports athlete of significance that you know of? July the 14th. I share birthday with P.K. Subband. I mean, P.K. Subband. Wow. Me and P.K. share a birthday together.

I'm sure you guys have celebrated your birthdays together on many occasions. Yes, all the time. We take it deep in downtown Toronto. I find that hard to believe. I know your birthday at the Wheat Sheaf is very well attended by NHL players. It is. It is. Listen, I've attended it. We've had a fantastic time.

But I think Crosby turning 38, I mean, it just blows my mind. It's 38 years old. Well, one, it's rare that athletes are older than me these days, which I actually appreciate. For you, you still have some years to go. No, I'm getting to that point, though. It's rare that athletes are older than me. I'm like, yes, still older than me. It's weird when you get to a point where, like, a lot of the stars are now younger than you, right?

Where, like, when you're growing up, pretty much, yes, pretty much all the stars are young. Like, when I'm talking about Austin Matthews, they're constantly. These guys are younger than me now. Meanwhile, like I grew up idolizing like Crosby and Ovi and Malkin and, you know, older you go back to like Iersman and Joe Sackick and these guys were all grizzled old vets. I'm the same age as them now. It's just bizarre to kind of look at that. Now I talk about all the young ins, but Crosby, what he's doing, both of them,

both Crosby and Obetchkin, what they're still doing in the twilight of their careers is so oppressive. You don't see it often in pro sports. I think it's a testament to how great those two truly are. Like what Ovi did last year, the amount of goals he scored, and he had like 40, what, 43, 42 goals last year, and he missed six weeks, the broken leg. And still went on to do what he did.

Crosby last season still went and had point per game here, 91 points in 80 games at age 37 years old on a terrible Pittsburgh Penguins team. It's impressive. what those two are still doing at this point in their careers. And it does feel like their off-season preparations are a little bit different. I feel like Sid and McKinnon are up in Nova Scotia just pushing sleds and fields and running and grinding and skating.

Ovechkin, I don't think, is doing the same thing. And listen. He's playing pick-up soccer. Yeah, just whatever works, right? And you can't be critical of something that works for Ovechkin. But I think what he does is very different than what Crosby does, which again, it doesn't matter. As long as you get to the same end point, it doesn't matter where you start.

Bit of an in a nicquet, though. That's the thing, like, Crosby, like, I don't know a lot about Crosby. You know nothing about Crosby. Consider he's like one of the best players on the planet. How it's designed. You know very little about him and what he's up. Is he a married man? I think so. I think he is. I think he is. Is he if kids?

I don't think so. I have no idea. I have no clue. It's weird because he does not live on social media. Nope. At all. There's zero controversy. Literally zero. Like, can you think of one, bad thing that he's done or that's happened to him. I don't know if he swears. I honestly am not sure if he could throw an

F-bomb around as well as you do. I don't think he can't. You think I throw an F-bom around? That's maybe the one thing that you do better than him. Swearing. Throw around a first word. Yes, I can do that. Well, thank you. I'm adepted that. But the Crosby is very much under the radar and he always

has been and always will be. Like Mike Trout. Like those two guys. Yeah, you're right. Almost the best of what they do. and somehow completely out of the limel. And when Crosby retires from hockey, it could be two years down the road, three, four, five, nothing would surprise me.

Technically is what, two years left on that contract? It's not an extension. Yeah, just last summer. The extension. So, I mean,

I don't see him working in the national hockey league. I don't see him coaching. I don't see him being a terrible manager. I think he just fades away into the ether. You don't see him maybe sticking around in a GM role potentially? The thing is such a hockey life for the, like he loves hockey. And I just can.

I can't understand it. Like the Bill Garens, the Rob Blake's, Steve Eiserman's, the Brennan-Shannanahan's, guys who've made a lot of money in their hockey careers. And I understand the thirst for competition. They love the game. They love the game. They can't leave it. Of winning and trying to win and being part of something. I get it, but it's a lot of work, man. Not a lot of winning here.

It's a lot of wins in the regular season. But there's just so much to it. And these guys are set for life. They could easily go move down a floor. or wherever they want and never even think about working again. But that's not how so many of them operate. And I respect that because that's what I would do. If I had 50 mil in the bank, I think I'm doing sports radio in Toronto.

I love this job. I am blessed, but that ain't happening. Here's the thing that, like, a lot of people get bored. Like a lot of these older people get bored. Like you go to like Walmart and you see all these like older people who are sitting there as greeters or whatever bagging groceries. They're not there often. Are you comparing Walmart?

Walmart, grocery baggers to Brennan-Shanahan? Well, him and Tony Romo, right? That's all the same thing. Kurt Warner, Kurt Warner. Wasn't he a bag boy before? He was. He did work at a grocery store, and then- He was.

But out, my point is just like people get bored in retirement and just, like, want something to fill their time. Now, I'm not saying that those guys aren't at that. Like, Chan, he's not filling time. So let me go be the president of the Toronto Maple. He's like, that's not obviously the situation. But they just love the game. I think they just love it and they can't get away

and they want to get back into it as soon as they possibly can't. I do wonder when we see Shanahan resurface and where? Yeah, it's, you know, it's an interesting question. He's got a year left on his deal, right? So he's getting paid out for this season. But like next summer, I can see his name resurfacing

somewhere else in a presidential role. That's the only spot. Like he's, I don't know, is he going to be a GM? Like, does he want to be a GM? Probably not. That's a step down. Right. So I think he's just looking for

team that's looking for a new direction and a new shana plan 2.0. Oh, boy. Maybe, maybe. I would assume. I think it goes back to the league offices, but that's, that is also a possibility. That is. So, well, we'll have to keep close tabs on that. But I do think it's fascinating.

And again, I don't think Crosby is going out and hitting the clubs in Nova Scotia, if those exist. I wasn't Halifax not long ago. What do you mean? Cabot Trail. Yeah, all you think is a cabot? Well, you're saying you don't know if the links exist and it was, one of the best courses in the country. Yeah.

Out in Cabot. That is true. Beautiful spot. Two of the top five, the links and the cliffs. Yeah. Out there in Nova Scotia. So, happy birthday, the 87, 38 years old.

Where has the time gone? I still remember listening to the radio when the penguins won the draft lottery. I remember exactly where I was. Really? At summer camp. Like, I was like, oh, my God, the Leafs are going to get Crosby. This is going to be it because the lock. That was going to go to the locks.

Everybody had the odds. I'm like, oh, my God. this could be it. Crosby, we could change everything that in Pittsburgh one. I was like, oh, there's a conspiracy theory surrounding that. I know, but like that specifically, it's like they were on the brink of bankruptcy. Well, they were. And Lemieux and Crosby saved that entire organization. Yeah, true. And then they went on to

win, what, were they three cups? Stanley Cups. Three Stanley Cups in the Crosby era? And they will not win anymore in the Crosby era. No, sadly, sadly not. Are you prepared for like Crosby and the Penguins to be irrelevant this season? Well, we'll see how long as a penguin. Really?

I am of the belief. What's your Jerry's percentage that he does not finish his career as a penguin? Like you high on that? Like, do you more than 50%? Yeah, I think so. Really? I think a year that's coming,

especially if they trade Raquel and Rust, it just gets worse and worse. You have to expect Malkin to fall off a bit. But when he signed that three-year-a-deal, he would have known. Yeah, and maybe he just doesn't care, which I respect, too. No, I'm just going to play out this train. I don't really care. 26% chance. He finishes a...

It's a noodles percentage right there. He does not finish a penguin. Noodles never picks like a round number. Yeah, no. It's always... 27.2%. 74% chance he finishes career. 74%.

Hour 2 of Overdrive. Coming up on the other side, Keegan Matheson talking Jace. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandool. Fan duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. The biggest songs in the world.

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