OverDrive - OverDrive - July 9, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

Join Jim Tatti, Dave Feschuk and Michael DiStefano for Hour 2 on OverDrive! Former Blue Jays Outfielder Jose Bautista joins to discuss the Blue Jays' incredible run, the importance of the culture and the memories of the triumphant teams in Toronto. TSN Football Insider Dave Naylor joins to discuss the headlines entering Week 6 in the CFL, the Argonauts' pursuit of success in the skid and the NFL training camps approaching and they also play Yes Guy, No Guy.

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The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app. Jim Taddy, Dave Fest, Chuck from the Toronto Star and Al's brother Mike DiStefano with you. Overdrivers brought you by FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the

final score. In mere minutes, Jose Bautista will stop by. Later on, Dave Nailer and after that, yes, I know, got a round out the hour. So 2-1 was the loss in Chicago and the Jays run comes in the top of the second. Heinemann on a bunt single drives in a run. So there's one of those, I guess, concerns about the Jays that don't longer exist, keeping the ball in play or getting it in play. And over the last week, a lot of bun singles. Yeah, they can play a little small ball. They can play some big ball.

It's it's been a nice mix for this team today. The the small ball didn't really work. They didn't hit one out of the park. They you know, it was just one of those games. They like I think Keegan Matheson, our our regular contributor, described it as an untidy one. Not a particularly great pitching performance by Eric Lauer as the starter giving up two runs in four innings. Not terrible, but not the kind of stuff you're looking for against a bottom feeding team like the White

Sox. But hey, it's hard to hang it on the pitching when you score one and the Blue Jays scored one. Yeah. I got to get more than that than that but look it was bound to happen they were due for a bit of a stinker offensively and they still managed to get nine hits just couldn't get any over the over the hump. Bladie went 0 for 4 Bo nice day a little 3 for 3 night for for Bo Bichette. 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position right out of the story of the day to your point, right? And Guerrero, oh for three.

Blattie, oh for three with runners in scoring position. Yeah, Blattie had quite the base running gaffe earlier today too, which was very interesting. That's part of the untidiness. Part of the untidiness. So there was like a, the infield fly rule is a fascinating rule in major major league baseball and I'm not sure why players don't use this more often so there was a play in the game

today where Bo Bichette I believe was on first base, Vladi pops it up into the infield and ends up dropping and they pick it up quickly throw it to second base Bichette's out but Vladi safe. Why don't teams use that like method more often if if there's someone on first base who's got the legs who's like a base stealer or has speed and then the guy who is hitting does not, a la, you know like an Alejandro Kirk let's say, why not just purposely let that ball drop and get the get the speed runner out at second base and then have first base someone who's, you know for their life. A nice trade. Yeah. Yeah to take take the

speed threat off. Yeah you could definitely do it. I'm just care why teams don't do that more often. Yeah good question. I don't know we'll have to get the guys with the spreadsheets in the Blue Jays front office to figure that one out. I'm sure there's a mathematical reason why that hasn't been exploited because if it if been exploited because if it was mathematically, if it was mathematically profitable for the teams, they'd probably be doing it. Yeah, I guess you'd get the automatic out by catching it as opposed to risking throwing the ball into the outfield, trying to throw it to second, maybe that. There is that risk.

That is why I would think the risk of it not turning out that way. I guess that's my question. I guess there's more risk It's not fun when you answer your own question. Yeah, you think it through for half a second You're like, you know, actually that was a dumb thing to say Last reward not so you're around enough room. I don't know if I would admit it was a dumb thing to say We're sort of watching the Vlad E Base running gaffer. He oh, yeah, they throw it they they throw it away at attempting to pick him off on first base

he takes second quite skillfully and and motors over a second he's safe at second and then they throw the ball away again sweet rise to go to third and he gets he gets caught there we are not going to use only on first because of the infield flies right yeah i i i i was a little bit situation your play yeah that same kind of thing anyway one of those days for the Blue Jays they haven't had a lot of them

lately it's hard to imagine that this team actually had a cold day at the plate with runners in scoring position but there was first one in 11 so they'll have to do it in the second half yeah set the record right well no well you meet you for the next year for the for the longest streak yes for a for 11 minutes they can add to the most wins before the All-Star game when they begin their series in the beautiful city of Sacramento on Friday against the Athletics. They're a much better team though than they've been in the past. There's some nice pieces like that Jacob Wilson kid is a stud. Like that young shortstop coming up, they got that

Canadian outfielder, was it Denzel Clark? Oh yeah, yeah, Clark. He's always on Sports Center with a highlight-worthy catch. Incredible. He's been unbelievable. He's been a lot of fun to watch. Let's bring in our special guest now. Joining us in the Maple Toyota Hotline is Jose Batista.

Joey Batts. Jose, how are you? Hello, gentlemen. I'm doing great. How about yourself? Good, good. So just before we launch into all the questions about now and then, first of all, congratulations on your entrance into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

It's only been a month. How do you feel about that? Thank you very much. Yeah, I feel great. You know, it was a really exciting week. You know, we were busy, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. And going through all the celebration, all the activities and the induction ceremony on Saturday in St. Mary's, lovely little town. I got to go to for the first time and just walking around the hall, seeing all the plaques and knowing that my name and my plaque is going to be in that room with all the greats.

It is a great feeling. It makes you kind of look back and look at your impact within baseball to the Blue Jays, to the country, and a great feeling overall. So I'm very humbled and very happy. Jose, we kind of started the show by talking about how, you know, inspired the Blue Jays, the way that they've been playing. You know, they're inspiring the fan base to think that

this could be a year where they might be able to compete and it's very reminiscent to the year that you guys had back in 2015 and I'm just curious like at what point in that season did you realize hey this this could be a special year for us Well 15 was a little different because we didn't really get going Up until the dead after the deadline when we we got David Price and a few other guys, um, we were kind of hovering at 500 and then just caught fire. So these guys, um, are playing better earlier. So, um, for us it was that moment after I think we won 11 in a row right after the

deadline and then we did it again down the stretch. So I can't pinpoint the date, but it was shortly after the deadline where we felt pretty good about our team. Up to then we were just doing okay. And then that shot in the arm at the deadline just kind of put us over the hump. But these guys, these guys have caught fire

at the right time. There's a lot of people stepping up. The usual suspects doing what they do. George spring or VM, uh, getting back to who he really is. The pitching staff is, is definitely, um, showing up every single night, giving them a chance. And you know, Vladimir and both, um, also leading the charge. So it's good to see some of the, some of the guys like, like barger and others

that may not have a household name just yet, but they're stepping up and making incredible contributions. And that's what it takes, right? Everybody coming together and putting in a great effort and next man up every night, making something happen, trying to get that win, and they're doing a pretty good job and it's fun to watch. Jose, thinking back to the great teams you guys had in 2015 and 2016, there was a lot of talk that one of the strengths

of those teams was the chemistry and the fact that it, you know, made you more than the sum of your parts, even though the parts were impressive on their own. There's been talk within this dugout, you hear George Springer talking about this team, they're a bunch of brothers And and there's such a good feeling around the team right now Can you speak to the importance of that and and how you build it and how you keep it? And I think that takes a few years and this group has been together for a few years So maybe they're in that stage in the maturity as a group that you know, they know each other Well, they know each other well, they know their strengths, their weaknesses, they know when somebody's got it all in the tank that day and when somebody doesn't and they help each other out and, you know, they're there to support each other,

you know, not only in baseball within the Lions, but also as people in the locker room and in life, you know, how to handle the motion in your families and their days of life. So, I'm sure that has a little bit to do with it, but winning also helps. And winning kind of brings people together. And then, you know, you start having fun and you create that unity. And that's when you can snowball in the right direction. And it seems like they're right at the beginning of that. So, yeah, good to see.

Let's continue on that track. I mean, baseball is so methodical, drawn out, 162 games, what, six weeks of preseason ball. And what you described there is it's a slow transition into where the chemistry shows up. So when it does show up, are you aware of that right away? I can't say that you're necessarily aware, but you definitely feel when You know Competing becomes a little easier

There's not that underlying panic where if somebody doesn't get anything done the next guy's got to do double um, and I kind of get that vibe from this this group like right now the way they're playing is And I kind of get that vibe from this group. Like right now, the way they're playing is you don't have anybody putting extra pressure on themselves and try to hit a three-run homer with nobody on base, that kind of deal. So yeah, everybody's just going up, assessing situation and just doing something positive. Even when they don't get a hit, maybe there's a ground ball or they run a high chopper out or they move a runner over or they get an RBI with a pop-up or a ground ball up the middle. That's what it seems like to me from the outside

looking in. So and that's when you're playing fun baseball because you don't need to you don't have the feeling that you need to string along three and four hits in a row just to get one one run across across the plate so it looks looks like they're they're they're firing an on cylinders and it looks easy for them right now we're also having discussion earlier about John Schneider and what he's been able to do and you know you you had one of the one of the greats with you obviously everyone loves John Gibbons but you know it gave it was known as a pretty good communicator back to the day players coach you know john schnider trying to you know learn that

maybe he's he's a bit of a hybrid guy we were talking about baby the importance of a line of communication from front office to the coach the manager you know to the players and and maybe the leadership group being a part of relaying that message could you maybe speak to the players and maybe the leadership group being a part of relaying that message. Could you maybe speak to the importance of communication from manager to the leadership group and, you know, how that can benefit a ball club? It certainly can't because it's not a... Well, and every team is different. So I'll start by saying that and not necessarily the things that applied to us when I was playing

there will apply to these guys, but generally speaking in a, in a clubhouse and at the major league level, one, my experience tells me is that it's not a great dynamic when the manager needs to step into the clubhouse and call for a meeting every time he needs to communicate anything, um, is good when the players and the coach or manager know each other well enough that there's a lot of unspoken things that get understood. But it's also good that there's a relationship directly between the manager's office and a few of the team leaders, the players, that it takes two minutes to get a point across and then like you said, that message gets

relayed to the rest of the group. Because the players need their space, need their freedom. They don't dislike coaches, but it's not good for the vibe to have the coach sitting in the locker room every single day, if you know what I mean. So I don't know, maybe they have figured that part out. I really can't comment on that because I'm not there so I have no clue but you guys will know more than me because you guys are closer to it. Jose you obviously were a great home run hitter you led the big leagues in in

homers a couple of you of your best years. I'm interested in your observations of the home run hitting or lack thereof from Vlad Gros junior this year. I mean he's hitting the ball hard we all know that you know the exit velocity is there he's getting on base an awful lot you know leading the team in walks but he's only got 12 home runs which which probably is a little below expectation for him when you look at him at the plate what do you see on that front? I Think he's doing great for the most part. He's doing his job hitting the ball hard getting runs Driven in To be quite frank across the board throughout the team. I don't see anybody kind of running away with the team leading homers

I don't even know who's leading right now, maybe springer only 16. And I know it's springer. Yeah. And bow and, and, and, uh, Vladimir around 12, 13. So I don't know, maybe this humidor thing, you're doing some things to the balls and the AL East. Uh, I know that the balls are kept in this new humidor and to keep them like humid and, but, you know know nobody can control the atmosphere's

humidity so maybe they're too damp and they're not flying as hard. I would love for some of the data and the analytics folks that can probably look at the data and see how these new humiders are affecting ball flight across different parts of the country because I know that the reason why they were implemented to begin with is because in places like Colorado the ball was flying out of the park so to even things out not implemented these these humiders in every stadium but that I don't know if they accounted for the fact that some of the places are are more damp and humid than others and if that's affected the drag of the ball. So not trying to find excuses for them but other than two guys in the majors I don't

think nobody has more than 30. So I don't know because I haven't looked at the data if across the board the whole league is hitting less homers or it's just certain stadiums but I know that for the J's they're not hitting a ton of them. At least there's no individual hitting any more than 16, but that doesn't matter at the end of the day. They're winning ballgames.

They're playing good. And as long as they keep doing that, I guess it's a secondary headline, not a priority right now. So winning trumps homers. So I'd rather see the winning than a lot of home runs and losing. Yeah, wins are always kind of the number one stat you want to see when it comes to a ball club. But you mentioned something, I'm kind of curious about it. You talked about how

the ball, you found that it flied whenever you were in Colorado. And if you look around the league, some are considered hitting parks, are considered you know pitchers parks like did that alter your approach at the plate like were you aware and did it change anything for you depending on what park you were in well for a lot of people including myself is it's counterintuitive to try to hit homers you do know that if you hit it well and you get it up in the air and some places just goes further, further. Atlanta, you know, Colorado, some places like that but you know you try not to let it get into

your head because at least for me it made me over swing and try harder which made me have less results. So I didn't have great home run numbers in Colorado maybe that's why. Maybe it affected me negatively more than in other places. Jose I'm gonna tip my pitch I'm gonna give you a change up here and so in this world one video can sum up a lot of hard work and a lot of achievement and that's the bat flip. So how many times do you relive the bat flip and and how many times do people remind you of the bat flip? Every day of my life at some point somebody brings it up. So unless I become a recluse and just move to a remote mountain I think it'll

continue to happen but I think that's a good thing right like it's become another touch point of the fan experience, something that creates memories and people are going to be able to enjoy during a game. And it's going to be ever-evolving, right? So I think it's seen more as a positive now than a negative, and it's all about providing entertainment through sport and great, showing our great skills in front of our fans And this is one way to celebrate success within the game And I think the fans love it and if that's the case why not keep it a part of the game

Jose the all-star breaks come in the the home run derbies come and I was how did you feel about the home run derby? Were you were you a fan of it? Did you did you enjoy participating Did you feel it screwed up your swing? When you look back, what was the impact of that contest in your career? Yeah, I love that I participated three or four times, I believe. I love the old format as a player because you either hit them or you don't. And if you hit a hot streak, you may win, but you're not wearing yourself out. This new format, you take so many swings. I don't and if you hit a hot streak, you may win, but you're not wearing yourself out. This new format, you take so many swings,

I don't even know how some of these guys are able to do it. I'd be in the colt for three days after swinging that many swings. But listen, you gotta tip your hat. These guys are doing a great job and I still love the Home Run Derby, no matter what format, but if I was participating, I'd like the old format and if I I was participating I like the old format and from watching I like the new format so

that sounds kind of crazy but it didn't mess me up I was trying to hit homers and BP every single day so for me it was business as usual but it's a fun event and is one of my favorites definitely my favorite out of all the All-Star festivities. Jose, I mean you played a long time. You faced the best pitchers of the 2010s and there's a new crop of young guys who are coming through the league right now. Paul Skeen's a lot of fanfare. This Jake Mizorowski kid who had an epic night last night against the Dodgers. It was funny listening to Clayton Kershaw come out and say, I'm well aware of this kid now. Like was there a picture that

you think back on that you know you might have heard a little bit like, oh yeah, this kid's got good stuff, but when you stepped into the batter's box you were kind of blown away by what he threw at you. I think I faced my last year, there was a kid on the Braves, he's still there, he's got the big legs and the mustache, I forget his name, oh, Strider. I think I might have faced him once and he was a rookie then, first year, maybe a September call-up or something, I think I was with the Phillies I do remember you know facing him and his his ball just moved a little different it was it had a little extra zip and I'm like man this is an uncomfortable bat I'm glad I don't have to do that much more often after this

season because I figured I was get a quote the end but yeah he's one of those guys are kind of stuck out to me uh... being pretty nasty so yeah what what keeps you busy these days so they would have what what your passions beyond beyond plan and what what keeps you getting up in the morning i'm going to be the first first of all i'm a i'm a dad of four girls, as most people know, and just keep me busy with that and their school and their sports and helping out around the house.

But other than that, I got a bunch of different business ventures that I'm a part of. And one of the ones that gets me the most excited is a soccer team in the United Soccer League that I bought in Las Vegas almost two years ago and that's going well. So yeah, just enjoying life, trying to stay physically active and working out and exercising and just being a full-time dad and doing a few things on the entrepreneurial side. Jose, we really all appreciated this. Thanks for your time and all the best. My pleasure. You guys know where to find me, so have fun and good luck with the rest of

the show. Thank you. Jose Batista, former Jays outfielder, Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer. Jose joined us on the Maple Toyota Hotline Drive, the built in Canada fuel efficient fun to drive. Toyota RAV4, gas or hybrid models available. Visit maple toyota.com. Las Vegas lights, right? Las Vegas lights of the NSL. The bat flip is like for me, a great logo. Well there's two moments in my lifetime at least. As a sports fan that will live in infamy it's the bat flip and the golden goal like those two are wanted to and there's no one else on that. Kauai's four bouncer in game seven against the Sixers?

That's in there as well. I'll put that in there as well. I guess so that's three. That one Nick Kailers putter for 72 flutter. I'm not a big golf guy I guess. Like I'm not saying that these aren't massive moments, but personally, those were my two, where it's like I remember where I was. I remember the celebration.

I remember like everything about that moment in time. And the bat flip was just incredible. I wish I was at, were you in the stadium for that? Were you covering the stadium? No, I was watching it. Oh, unbelievable. There's that in Touchemall Joe. Yes.

And that's Blue J history right there. That one. Yeah. Hard to, well, slightly different circumstances, but yeah, the bad flip. One sort of a modern version. Yeah. Right. And then look, it's an iconic moment, right? And it got people excited. I think the context of it was important because it was a renaissance of baseball in Toronto, right? Like it was that, you know, it was a rebirth of a sport that was essentially dead for almost two decades in this town. And it's a sport that people love in this town.

And it was hard to love for a long time until that team came along and it reminded everybody why it's so great. Well, remember how much maligned the bat flip was at the time. Oh. And now it's a regular occurrence. It's like if you don't flip your bat in a certain way, I mean people are looking at you funny.

It's like do you even care about baseball? You have no emotion. Whereas back then it was like whoa, did you see that? Too much showboating. Yeah, too much showboating. I feel kind of left out because as you're going through all this I'm thinking what's the Leaf version? Yeah. And the Leaf version is Gilmoremore high-stack. They're not calling it That's like 30 to bar 32 years ago the virus You could say is like the mot the most modern version of it like the ot winner game six against Tampa Yeah, that's about it though. There's not a lot. There's not a lot. No not over the last 20 years It's not a it's not a set of video highlights. That's for sure and prior to that It was the Leafs have won the lottery

It's not a set of video highlights, that's for sure. And prior to that it was, the Leafs have won the lottery. That was the... That's right. That was the... People, I think, assumed it was going to happen, but now we know that that was really fortunate. Oh, yeah. Well, if you can call it fortunate,

they lost the lottery for Conor McDavid by one ball. Yeah. Yeah. That would have been slightly better, but... Oh, well. Yeah. That's it. That's a short book leaf Leave positive memories over the last 35 years

Yeah, okay coming up next talk football with Dave Nailer and we'll continue on here overdrive live on YouTube TSN to TSN 1050 overdrive Jim Taddy Dave festeckman a Toronto star and Alice brother Mike de Stefano With you today coming up at the top of the next next hour what do we have at six o'clock jack armstrong uh... david niller will be with us very shortly to talk football here's an interesting uh... sort of sidebar story and you know because of a i and how your brain works you could take uh... star one sport and plug them into another sports so davante adams

undead patrick show talking about lebron being an nfl player take a listen he would have been one of the best receivers tight ends all time no question of the receiving playful ball i saw him play a high school here he he can he can fly to the city he's he's one of the fastest in the players probably all time i've never seen somebody cover space on the on the

that's more court maybe john wall earlier there grows something like that interesting premise, right It certainly is. I mean, I don't doubt he could have been whatever really good at anything Yeah, but a baseball bat in his hand. He pretty if he if he grew up loving baseball, I'd probably be a damn good baseball player But I mean the one thing I would say about this though let's give respect to football guys like there's there's basketball tough which is not that tough and then there's football tough and that's tough right well it's contact in every play yeah exactly and like fighting through contact and I mean if I

imagined it like LeBron James at 6'9 250 he would have been a tight end right like that's the position that LeBron James would have played you got a block block too. You got to block. You're gonna have to chip against guys like Miles Garrett. Is he willing to do that? I don't know. I don't know. That'd be very difficult to do. That man's an absolute monster. So, but he probably could have been uh, if he could have set his sights to it and said, ah, I want to play in the NFL instead of the NBA. Probably could have played in the league, I would think. Oh, I wouldn't doubt that. He would he would be very good at whatever he wanted to do, and he has been.

Let's bring in Dave Naylor, our CFL NFL insider. Dave, welcome, how are you? And we're sort of doing that LeBron thing based on Devontae Adams and Dan Patrick saying if LeBron played football, he would have been a stud. Do you do that with athletes? Do you sort of look at them and go, what if this guy was in this sport?

Oh yeah, certainly, especially when you're not only projecting them what sport, but when you're applying it to football, what position. Because football is so position specific, I guess more than any other sport, maybe than baseball, if you include pitcher. But like, OK, so where would LeBron play? Well, I think he would have made an outstanding tight end. Like you can, like the ball skills, the physicality, the burst. I mean, he's got tight end,

which is of course the sport that guys do transition out of basketball to football with like Antonio Gates, one of the great tight ends in NFL history, never played college football. He was a basketball player and there are other guys that were more basketball than football guys that have gone all into that. I mean the other position I think you could see him at is that defensive end and that's a common, you know in amateur football you see that a lot, right? The guys are tight ends slash D ends and you could see LeBron coming off the edge again with those hands, swim moves, that length.

Oh man, I'm getting excited guys. But Nailer, I was saying like, okay, it's one thing to have the physical skills and that way and uh... all man and get excited that but but but they were out saying like okay it's one thing to have the the physical skills in the the frame and then the athleticism and then there's one other ingredient and for a guy who is sometimes been nicknamed lafla i'm not sure the bond would have the football toughness uh... how do you how

do you know for guys football tough i guess is is the question well i mean you know part of the the flopping whether it's in basketball football is like to gain an advantage right which i you don't get that a lot in football because the game so physical uh... but i i i i think honestly physical physicality public input ball comes from competitiveness you know you can't you can't play this game competitively and not be physical. And I think, well, LeBron may have been an artistic flopper at different times in his career. He's also a pretty competitive athlete, and that's, I think, the side we see of him

when he's playing football. So let's go to the CFL with the BC Montreal Fracas on the weekend and some suspensions. I mean, there's a lot of tempers in football But normally at games end I don't think I've seen that too often Now I'd look like a junior hockey brawl or something is what it reminded me of one of those kind of viral things It goes on and again right at the end of the game and it it is kind of amazing We don't see that more often in football when you think of like not only do you line up against the same team? 60 times a game, but you often line up against the same guy

Like not only do you line up against the same team 60 times a game, but you often line up against the same guy. Like football is a bunch of one-on-one matchups a lot of times. So, you know, a poke in the eye here, a shot in the ribs under the pile there gets remembered. And I get the one thing that some people were surprised about is there's only one suspension in it all. And I think that somewhat reflects that, you know, I think sometimes when we talk about suspensions in football, it, we kind of go into sort of hockey speak right give them a game give them two games three games you know but it's you got to remember I mean there's what the

NHL's gonna play 84 now oh good 84 not 82 and the but I mean the CFL they're playing 18 so I think there is a hesitancy to suspend in football just because you're taking paychecks away from guys, you're taking players off the rosters and those kinds of things. But it was, yeah, not something we see very often. And again, in that stadium, I know that Percival Molson Stadium very well,

the locker rooms and the benches are really tight to the sidelines. And we have this weird thing, I don't know why this is in the CFL, that the side, that in the East, there's a lot of quirks in Canadian football. Sometimes I'll write a list of them all.

Just all the weirdness in Canadian football that only exists in Canadian football. And one of them is this. In the West Division, the teams are on opposite fields, sides of the field, right? Like in the NFL. In the East Division, they're on the same side. You go to a game of the field, right? Like in the NFL. In the East Division, they're on the same side. You go to a game at BMO, right?

You look and you see the two teams are right, they're like, same thing in Montreal. Now, I don't know how to explain that. It seems to defile logic. It's like the designated hitter rule, except it's for the team lineup. I know why they do it in the East, it's because they can sell the signage

across the field on the other side. That's why they do it. But I don't know why that doesn't carry the day in the West. But that's also, I think, a setup. And this has been criticized in the past. You look how tight. There's not a lot of space separating those teams. You actually get down there, especially when they start to crouch the center of the field a little bit. So I think that's part of what happened as well. Dave, if we move ahead and look ahead into week six, there's a massive tilt between the BC Lions quarterback by Nathan Rourke and the Edmonton Alks quarterback by Trey Ford. Two stud Canadian QBs going head-to-head this weekend. How big is this for the league? I think it's great. I mean it was a real

buzz in the opening week and you know know, the, the, the elks just didn't bring it. You know, and Trey Ford frankly didn't play very well, but you know, I had a conversation with Edmonton's offensive coordinator a couple of weeks ago, Jordan McZimmick, and was asking him about Trey and his development. And this is something you don't see very often in the CFL. It's more of an NFL thing, right? In the CFL, the change of quarterback usually often

happens in desperation time when your quarterback is playing lousy or he gets hurt. But recently we've seen a trend that is again, more like in the NFL, where teams will anoint a guy, a young quarterback in the off season, off a limited sample of play time, and say we're gonna ride this guy because we think if we can develop it

and get his high side, he's going to be spectacular. And Trey Port is that guy, right? He's the greatest athlete who's ever played quarterback from the U-sport level. And again, just to keep this relevant, right? The list of guys who've gone from U-sport football to become a starting quarterback in the Canadian Football League in the last 50 years is nobody. Short. Nobody, right? So like this is quite an accomplishment for him to be anointed as a

franchise quarterback. And I think what we've seen in every week is his improvement. And week one, he's scampering out of the pocket. Week one and two, he's scampering out of the pocket early. He's relying on his legs. Soon as there's pressure, he gets jumpy. And all of a sudden now you start to see hanging in the pocket, make it throw it from the pocket. And coincidentally, his rush yards are way down. Now I still think Trey Ford is an elite, elite rusher and that's a real weapon for Edmison. But maybe to develop him as a pocket passer,

you've got to take away his reliance on his legs. You just kind of have to get them not to, not to be so quick to go. So I'm sure we'll see that surface later in the year, but I'm really excited what we've seen in Trey Ford and the development that he's made over the first third of the season. And you know, to have this matchup of not just two Canadian quarterbacks, I think, you know, we're all sophisticated in other sports fans that we don't like seeing players just because they're Canadian

or where they're from or whatever. But when you've got two truly good quarterbacks, I mean, Nathan Rourke is a great quarterback and Trey Ford is certainly on his way in that direction. And they both happen to be homegrown. I think it's a special occasion. Nail, you look at the progression out in Saskatchewan. I think 2023, they go 6-12.

Last year, they're 9-8. And now, here we are, heading into week 6, they're the only undefeated team in the CFL at 4-0. They will host Calgary in the Friday night game. How good is this Saskatchewan team, and what are you looking for in that matchup? Yeah, I think they're really good and this is you know their second year under Cory Mace their head coach who was the defensive coordinator in Toronto you know did so many good things you know somebody who is really really highly

respected in the game. It's always funny guys you know football such a small world obviously things where I think of like the first time I ever spoke to somebody and it's always in a different context where they are now. The first time I ever spoke to Cory Mace was at a Buffalo Bills night practice at St. John Fisher college and training camp. The year that the bills had Tio. I remember because he was, he up there spending a number of years with the bills before he came to play in the Canadian football league. But you know, Corey Mase is, is,

I say a highly respected guy, uh, by players, a really good defensive coach. And, uh, if you look at where this team is winning, it's the trenches days. Like they are best in the league at running the football, best of the league at stopping the run. I mean, and I don't care what league you're talking about. That's one in one a, the kind of establishing your presence. Then you look at things like sacks, they're near the top of the league in sacks. When you look at sacks givenaks. They're near the top of the league in Saks. When you look at Saks giving up, they're near the bottom.

So they're clearly winning at the line of scrimmage. And AJ Ouellette, who went to Saskatchewan on a pretty significant free agent deal a year ago and kind of didn't have a great year when he was healthy and was injured much of it, he really transformed his body this off season, kind of came in with a different bit of a more, a lighter build and a little more ability

to bounce it outside and have a little more sort of explosiveness and we're seeing that. So yeah, I think this is a team that can, they can take the ball away, they can stop the line of scrimmage. And Calgary is just a team that's surprising us. I mean, I think a lot of people looked at that roster at the start of the year and said,

man, this is almost an expansion team, just in terms of the number of turnovers, particularly on defense. And yet right from week one, Dave Dickinson's got them playing very crisp, very, very sharp football, which is not what you tend to think of when you think of a roster that's been remade. But certainly Vernon Adams being there has put a big jolt into that team as well. He had a huge game last week in their upset win against Winnipeg.

Dave, the Argos are one and four, have allowed, allowed 163 points and that's been a significant turnover on that roster. What's your level of concern? It's high. I mean look I think sometimes Toronto's done that particularly on the defensive side of the ball. They kind of have this mentality of like we can replace anyone. And when teams come bidding for their players,

I mean, they paid Wynton McManus, their middle linebacker was basically the only guy that rolled out a big defensive contract to at the end of last year, their front four, but the starting front four from the great cup is not on the roster. You know, three of them are elsewhere in the CFL ones with the Cleveland Browns and you know, they had changes on the backend. And I think everybody looked at it and said, man, I know they've done this before, but the big difference I think this year is,

look, last year they missed Chad Kelly for the first half of the year. And the Argonauts could count on a defensive touchdown and a special teams touchdown almost every week. It was like, they weren't playing great before Chad Kelly came back last year, but that's what complimentary football is, right? When your offense is down and you don't have your starting quarterback, you need defense and special teams to chip in. And that was a big part of what they were

getting last year. And I don't think Nick Arbuckle has been terrible, but there's a reason he hasn't been able to hold a starting job as a quarterback in this league. I think he's a very serviceable backup, but without the defense and the special teams giving him the presence they did last year. No, I would be, and we don't know, like the Chad Kelly thing keeps moving, right? It's like, wouldn't rule him out to the start of the season until very late in training camp. Now we're talking week seven. You know, it's a broken ankle from a playoff game last November. Um, you know, we'll see,'s uh... yeah this this this season to get

away from a very quickly particularly if there's any delays in jen kelly's return now what do you make of the the sort of the the fallout from that week three game where uh... rough riders quarterback trevor harris took a headshot from uh... the our goes jordan williams

uh... there was a fine levied in i guess harris's Harris took a headshot from the Argos Jordan Williams. There was a fine levied and I guess Harris has told the media in Regina that he's insinuated that there was essentially a retaliatory headshot although he did walk it back in some of his other comments but what do you make of that whole, whole imbroglio? Well I think anytime you have a situation where players are, you know, dictating or predicting or promising or like putting bounties on guys in the line of scrimmage and those

kinds of things, I just don't use any part of that in the game because I'll tell you what it does. It changes careers. I mean, and I'll get people fired. And I'll use the example, there was a game in Saskatchewan when our good friend Paul LaPolise was coaching the Ottawa Red Blacks. And there was one of those incidents

at the line of scrimmage, right? Where a guy told Jeremiah Mazzoli essentially that he was coming for him. And on the next play, he came through, you know, Garrett Marino was the player, wrapped him up by the ankles, like broke his leg and honestly, Jeremiah Mazzoli, who's now a backup in BC and not playing very well this season, it changed his career.

Like if you look at the arc of his career, it came off of that moment. And so anytime I see something like that, I kind of harken back to that. And I just realized how at that point it kind of stops, it can stop being a game, right? When you're starting to, your livelihood is at stake. So I know Trevor Harris kind of stopped it can stop being a game right when you start your life with a good state so i don't ever have to talk about that in the walk the bag i think that some of the leading to be very diligent on for absolutely uh... nail in the bills training camp starts up next week and as you give me down at side john fisher's college again this year

i absolutely will be don't know if i'll be there for the opening day i may be in pittsburgh for the last year I was at the Aaron Rodgers day with the Jets on opening day this year It looks like I'll be Aaron Rodgers day in Pittsburgh and then I will shuffle off to lovely Pittsburgh, New York So the bills can't be asked. Yeah, there's more storylines going on in Pittsburgh right now I think we can all agree that the place you want to be it's Ford. Yeah. Yeah I think we can all agree that that is the place you want to be. Pittsburgh to Pittsburgh. Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely. Yeah, no, look, I think, I mean, the thing is in Pittsburgh is just everybody wants to see what that looks like. Like Aaron Rodgers as a stealer, like an organization that bows to no one, right? That's been the stealers' DNA throughout their history. To a guy who the last two teams he was on, demanded that everybody bow to him. And not just in the culture, but in the actual who's on the roster,

who's coaching, all those kinds of things. So it is unlikely partnering, and I think that's what fascinates us so much. And then the other part of it is, it's not like he's going to a garbage team. I mean, with the Jets, on paper they look good because they've gone out and spent a bunch of money, and people say, oh, this is a Super Bowl ready team.

And I'm like, yeah, I don't think this is a Super Bowl ready team. And I'm like, yeah, I don't, I don't think this is a Super Bowl ready team. I've just never seen, I just never in the NFL, I've never seen that where a team goes out and buys a bunch of guys from different teams and they all look great on paper and the team goes on a run. It just doesn't happen. It didn't happen with the Jets, but this Steelers team is good. And so I think that's the other part that intrigues is that you don't necessarily need, you know, vintage Aaron Rodgers for them to be a decent team in the AFC. Yeah, it's not just Rodgers either.

It's also DK Metcalfe and Jalen Ramsey. There's a lot of interesting names. A lot of egos. A lot of egos in one locker room. How many teams has Jalen Ramsey been on now? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, well, and what's going on with TJ Watt, too? What's your read on that situation, Nailer? I honestly, not something I've been up

to so I can't give you an up and close on that one but I mean I think it's the kind of you know stuff that goes on at this time of year. This is kind of interesting time for the NFL. It's an absolute dead zone right? The NFL has turned into a year-round business, but from about June the 13th till July the 23rd, it is dark. So anything that's rattling around kind of becomes a story. And as we know, whether the NFL is participating and players are made available or not, the chatter never goes away. Nail, again, what's the over-under going to be on turkey burgers next week?

Oh, boy. What do you got? Nail again, what's the over-under gonna be on turkey burgers next week? Oh boy Well, what do you got? How many days you there? I'm gonna say Three oh three and a half over under three and a half over I'm going under I'm going under Yeah going under there are other options on the menu that we're not that we've not heard of st. John's Like it's the place on planet Earth for a turkey burger. Is it not? It is no there's a little monotony st. John's fishes

They love the kind of Pittsburgh has lots of good. I love it. Thanks a very idyllic place. You guys ever been there? Oh, yeah, great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, very very it's it's like a summer, you know, with all of the kind of nastiness and intensity of the NFL, Pittsburgh, New York and St. John Fisher is like this kind of idyllic oasis. Everything's very peaceful and calm and lovely and all that stuff. And then it gives way to the fall

and the nastiness that is the National Football League. But I am looking forward to the Bills too. I think this will be, this is a very intriguing year for them They've put so much capital into defense and they just kind of and I want to say they put the offense on autopilot I think the Josh Palmer signing is going to be significant. I think Elijah Moore is gonna be significant This is a guy who's had quarterbacks throwing to him in Cleveland and with the Jets through his career So I'm sure he's gonna welcome, you know,

lining up alongside Josh Allen, but you know, Josh is in his prime. The offensive line is the same as last year. You know, they've added a couple of pieces that I think are gonna be upgrades over what they had last year. And we'll see if all that draft and free agent capital on defense is gonna pay some dividend.

Dave, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Hey, my my pleasure thanks guys. Dave Nailer CFL NFL insider the turkey burger sounds like he's on a program. I've heard very good things about this turkey burger I haven't had it myself but raving reviews from every single Buffalo beat beat writer so raving raving reviews yeah you used a word by the way in that interview I had never heard in my life I had to Google what it meant imbroglio yeah I don't know why that came out I have never heard that word in my

life what is that like what is this I do have the definition imbroglio imbroglio an extremely confused complicated or embarrassing situation you used it perfectly I thought that was why you're at top writer at the star my friend I thought that was doogie's cologne and bro Leo one of the four that he's on that he's a today 600 a bottle just for you only two clone mix okay my back the double-header today about them almost double come back yes i know guys just around the corner than jack armstrong as well

overdrive live on youtube tsn ten fifty tsn overdrive on wednesday jay's lost two to one so the streak is over gonna play a special little game now yes guy no We're going to play a special little game now. Yes Guy, No Guy. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, drivers and passengers again, here we go. Yes Guy, No Guy. Yes Guy, No Guy number one. Blue Jays can compete with the Tigers for the top of the American League.

AB? Yes Guy. Yeah. Yes Guy. Absolutely. Why not? I mean, the Jays have proven that they can hit. If they go all out and they bring in some arms to kind of go with I mean

it's not that they don't have good pitching they do I mean you look at what Gossman's been able to do at times Bureaus has been unbelievable Bassett pitched well again last night you know they add another arm to that and all of a sudden the bats are there the pitching's there look the Tigers it's been a great story but no one had this team being you know what they are it's similar to the Blue Jays both teams. They I had a real dip Have they yeah, I think they came into it I was taking a look at the no I think they came into this year with the third highest odds to win that the division

That's not a very good division is ahead the third highest odds to win that and and they've run away with it It's been a great season Torkelson's been unbelievable Tariq scoob will pick it up where he left off right the Jays could compete there It's enough time for you Dave. What do you in on it's a big it's a big yes guy i mean who's afraid of that a l central nobody should be if you're in the alley right now they have the central hasn't wanted since what twenty sixteen when cleveland one

uh... it's been about the east in the west it still is about the east in the west i think but the tigers got a good team going to get a very easy schedule based on their division, but that doesn't mean they're going to win at the playoffs. No. So Jay's lost today two to one coming up at the top of the hour. Jack Armstrong. Sure. We're going to talk about the OKC brakes truck brigade as they hand out all kinds

of money there. Max. Yeah. Holmgren is a rich, rich fella also very tall. Yeah, they're also tall Yeah, deep pockets. So wait look at that. Yeah deep pockets Jack Armstrong next is overdrive continues live on YouTube TSN 1050 TSN to the biggest songs in the world You've heard them countless times now learn the details of how they came to be. Join Ruby Carr for Encore, the stories behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love on IHAR Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.