10 THANKSGIVING THINGS

1 – HAPPY THANKSGIVING: Even in these trying times, you shouldn’t have to dig too far to find something to be thankful for. If you woke up today, that’s a good start. Now if you find something to be thankful for EVERYDAY, then you’ll set your life on a rocketship to happiness and good fortune.

2 – IS NO NEWS GOOD NEWS?: That’s how the saying goes, but I’m not so sure. CFL fans are clamouring for some sort of update or plan for 2021 but CFL executives lips are zipped. Are the owners and governors obligated to provide an update? Not one bit. Do I agree with the “ghosting”? Also, not one bit. But it’s their league and I respect their right to privacy.

3 – STARTING OVER: The fate of the CFL, to me, hinges on whether they can play in 2021 or not. If they can’t, then we’re truly headed towards bankruptcy and seeing this league start over. It’s not as bad as it sounds! I’ve started over a few times in my life and each time have come back stronger and better. CFL 3.0 could have a new salary structure, salary cap, football ops and front office structures, a new TV deal, new corporate partners, a betting app, Esports component, even new franchises, maybe even CFL Radio on Sirius/XM, and all sorts of weird and wonderful things. The issue for a lot of people right now is this scenario would surely include new owners and as I’ve been told over and over by my sources, “These owners don’t want to give up control”. So … we wait.

4 – SO WE’LL TALK ABOUT OURSELVES: We’re just past three months of The Rod Pedersen Show being broadcast to over 1-million homes in Canada and the USA on Game+ TV Network and the growth of the show has been overwhelming. So many of my friends have said, “Now you just need to get on TSN or Sportsnet”. To that I say NO for three reasons: 1) Game+ gave us a deal when no one else would, 2) Game+ wants to build their channel into a viable sports network and they’re adding all kinds of live sports content regularly and 3) The majority of our growth has been in the US and we can tell by the feedback we’re getting from viewers in far-flung places like Amarillo, TX, Myrtle Beach, SC, Alamogordo, NM and Eugene, OR. They love our CFL coverage, hockey talk (both pro and junior), university sports, niche sports coverage like lacrosse and curling, our guests and my views. We can talk about whatever we want and the viewers are eating it up as fast as we can put it out. How fantastic it is to build something from nothing! Miraculously we’ve been able to grow in this hideous time.

5 – DISTRIBUTION: I’m currently at the Best Western Seven Oaks with my family and left the list of cable carriers who offer Game+ and the cities and states they serve at home. I’ll post it ASAP because it’s fascinating and will give you a glimpse of what we’re up to. In the meantime, our show has a mascot (Ricky the Iguana pictured above), a merchandise & apparel line, a national TV deal and several exciting things on the horizon which we’ll roll out shortly. I let it *slip* on air this week that one of our show’s key stakeholders – IKS Owner/President Paul Drouin – is building an Ellen/Jerry Springer style amphitheatre in our building to house live shows in the months ahead! Basically I’ve advised our people to think of our TV show like a sports franchise and build it out that way. It’s working! By the time the rest catch on to what we’re doing, it’ll be too late.

*FOUND THEM*: Here are the cable carriers in the U.S. and the regions they serve – Optimum (New Jersey, New York City, Connecticut), Buckeye (Toledo, Detroit, Ohio), Shentel (Virginia), SuddenLink/Altice (New York City, New Jersey), HTC (South Carolina), RCN (Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC), Vyve (Texas, Oklahoma), TDS (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Vermont, Maine).

6 – FREE AGENT FRENZY: I’ll admit to being excited as many of you over this weekend’s NHL Free Agent Frenzy. Although I think the money is absolutely absurd and has forced these whacky deals, it’s been hella fun to predict and watch where these players are signing. However … watching the heartache in New York with the departure of Henrik Lundqvist, the anger in Vancouver with the loss of Jacob Markstrom and the outright confusion in Tampa Bay with the waiving of Tyler Johnson, it underscores what the hell are we doing here? And don’t for one second scoff at the CFL for players changing jerseys like their underwear because the NHL does the same thing. MLB too. Loyalty is gone in sports and for that I blame the owners and GMs.

7 – INSIDER TRADING: Hats off to the network insiders Darren Dreger, Pierre LeBrun, Elliotte Friedman & Co. for their excellent work in the corners digging up their insider info. It’s greasy, difficult work and ticks a lot of team insiders off. It’s also not easy. For instance John Scott’s prediction of a June 1 training camp start, or Eddie Lack’s prediction of Lundqvist signing with Colorado were wayyyyy off the mark. Trust is huge, the insiders have it, and what they do is an art. Respect!

8 – RAP SHEET: In the meantime, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport seems to have been abducted by aliens. He’s very, very good, and even dabbles in some CFL news. But his Twitter account has disappeared and this comes 24-48 hours after he announced he’s been suspended two weeks for Tweeting something that wasn’t cleared by NFL Network. I went back this morning to try to find the original Tweet for exact wording, and he’s vanished.

9 – COFFEE TALK: Here’s some fun inside info for ya! In the NHL bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto, Tim Hortons served 50,000 cups of coffee to NHL players and staff, 40,000 baked goods and 20,000 Iced Capps. That sounds like Fantasy Island to me! There were also 130 games played in all; 75 in Edmonton and 55 in Toronto.

10 – RANDOMS TO END: When we were kids staying in a hotel I always wondered where my Dad was going at 6:00 am. Now I know. … Can’t tell you how fantastic it felt to get into Landmark Cinema on Friday and enjoy the film Unhinged starring an 80-lbs overweight Russell Crowe. It’s about a guy who flips his lid over getting honked at while at a redlight, and destroys the life of the lady who did it. It’s scary and quite disturbing. PERFECT! It was a tremendous 2-hour escape and the hotdogs were terrific! Three thumbs up. … It appears the SJHL will be returning before too long but the WHL situation reminds me a lot of the CFL this summer (i.e. will they or won’t they?). I’m praying for both leagues, plus amateur football, and it appears the organizations with the strongest leaders will find a way to play. … It must be killing Canadian football players to be watching their US counterparts being able to play amid the pandemic. … What’s a reasonable lifespan for a home entertainment system you spend thousands and thousands of dollars on? Ours seems to be 5 years. … Kudos to the Toronto Argonauts players who helped with the Drive-Thru Food Drive on Saturday. The images of the Argo players in masks handing out goods to underprivileged Torontonians was truly heart-warming. It’s acts like this which will help save and rebuild this league. … I was extremely happy to hear Lethbridge has submitted an application for an expansion franchise for the Prairie Football Conference. As a PFC alum, I follow the league very closely and always thought the 7th team would be in Medicine Hat. This is close enough! … We got an avalanche of hate mail this week and I’m not sure why. But one of the emails said, “Your success has gone to your head!” I was truly grateful for that because I didn’t realize we were having success. … Nothing, nothing, nothing matters more than family. Not rings, not trophies, not ratings, not NOTHING! So thankful to spend Thanksgiving weekend with mine.

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen

The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 10:00 am MT on Game+ Network in over one million homes in Canada and the USA. It’s available in Manitoba on Bell/MTS Cable, in Saskatchewan on SaskTel Max TV, in Alberta & BC on Telus Optik TV and in Oregon and Washington states on TDS Cable. It’s also available on Facebook Live and RodPedersen.com/ListenLive.