10 Things
Truth & Rumours:
1 – ROAR BY THE SHORE: That’s more like it. Saturday’s Saskatchewan Roughriders 33-27 victory over the BC Lions in Vancouver was an ideal commercial for the CFL (unless you’re a fan of the Lions). Sask’s Trevor Harris and BC’s Nathan Rourke went toe-to-toe in a marquee quarterback battle and there were a bevy of big plays and huge hits! People were into it, as evidenced by how many people asked my pregame prediction. I went with the Riders because they’d been humiliated at home the week prior 24-10 by Calgary, while the Lions had won two straight. So much of these games is between the ears. Oh, and this game also flipped the narrative that when Nathan Rourke plays, BC wins. Again, it was a perfect endorsement for the CFL.
2 – SMILIN’ HANK OPENS UP: Canadian Football Hall of Famer and current Florida A&M associate coach Henry Burris was on the RP Show Friday and opened up on why he left Saskatchewan for Calgary way back in 2005 which was, if you recall, a highly controversial move with years-long after effects. “When you put two offers on the table and one is a couple hundred grand more, it’s hard to tell your wife no!” Henry offered. “At the end of the day, at this point in our lives, that’s when it matters; how much are we investing into our future? At the end of the day in pro sports, or in any career, you go where the money is. But Roy Shivers told me again, after losing to BC (in the 2004 West Final), at the end of the day for me to have to come back and prove it again, against Nealon Greene, to me that was uncalled for. You asked me to do a job, put us in position to go to the Big One, I did everything I could, and if it wasn’t Saskatchewan to make me the undisputed #1, then I knew Calgary would.”
So there you go. There’s slightly more to it than that, but let’s just leave it there.
3 – HALL OF FAMES: Henry Burris and Roy Shivers are both in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Shivers is in the Roughriders Plaza of Honour, but Burris is not. Henry should be. In fact, there are plenty of former Riders in Saskatchewan’s Hall of Fame who did far less for the franchise than Burris did so put him in. Is Paul McCallum in the Plaza by the way? There’s another one. And John Frenzy. The Plaza shouldn’t be running out of candidates anytime soon.
4 – LUKE WILLSON: If we had a CFL Media Personality of the Year (like the NFL does), it would already be awarded to CFL On TSN sideline reporter Luke Willson, the Super Bowl-winning tightend with the Seahawks. Earlier this week while out for one of my marathon walks the thought popped into my head that, “I can’t wait to tune into Friday Night Football to hear what Luke Willson has to say.” As it turns out, Willson narrowly made it Winnipeg because of travel snafus out of Toronto and his commentary on the broadcast was quite toned down from what I expected. But isn’t that what this sports media biz is supposed to be about? People eagerly tuning in to see what the announcers have to say? We’ve strayed away from that in recent years. I’ll give Luke a pass on Friday because he was clearly frazzled and a little unprepared. I’ve been there. It’s also heartwarming for me to appear on these shows across the land – like Winnipeg Sports Talk, QR Calgary and Sports 1440 Edmonton – and have the hosts say Luke Willson reminds them of me 20 years ago due to his bold, brash takes. He’s going to scrape his knees along the way, like I did, and personally I don’t care for his ongoing Twitter wars but he clearly has something going for him that I didn’t; the backing of the CFL and his bosses. if you want me to elaborate further, let me know and I’ll discuss it here next week.
5 – COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Football fans are itching for the college season and the SEC held its media days this week. The topic came up about who’s the better conference: SEC, Big 10, or even the ACC? Having one giant NFL-style conference/league would put an end to that talk forever and we’re closer to that happening than ever before. How would it look? Well the blueprint calls for a 64-team college football league with four divisions of 16 teams each (East, South, Midwest and West). The benefits are many, like a uniform 10- or 12-game regular season, unified playoff format (no selection committee), no more cupcake games, one rulebook, one TV deal and NIL uniformity. What’s not to love? Oh, and that opens the door for a salary cap which will happen eventually.
6 – WCBL ALL STAR NOTES: Saskatoon Berries slugger Ethan Menard was named WCBL All Star Game MVP, homeing in a 10-3 East Division victory over the West at a soldout Seaman Stadium in Okotoks on Saturday night. … Matt Rhoades of the Fort MacMurray Giants won the Homerun Derby … Next year’s ASG & Homerun Derby will be held at the Berry Patch in Saskatoon … The Moose Jaw Miller Express placed six All Stars: OF Austin Gurney (Campbell River, BC), P Westin Walls (Terrell, TX), OF William Edwards (Australia), P Nathan Pisio (Moose Jaw, SK), P Rodolfo Guardiola (Laredo, TX) and SS Thomas Soto (Round Rock, TX). … The Millers are home to the Regina Red Sox Sunday at 7:05 pm on the annual Jersey Night presented by Ultimate Fan Zone, Moose Jaw.
7 – MOOSE JAW: Call it the Band City, the Friendly City, Canada’s Most Notorious City, or whatever you’d like. The simple fact is I love, love, love spending my summers in this gorgeous city and calling Miller Express games on Flo College Baseball. To be honest, it reminds me of my winter home in Florida in a lot of ways; outsiders talk a lot of noise about it but the locals just laugh and say, “Stay away then!” They know why it’s so great. It’s got all the amenities you could ask for, is a tourist mecca, and in a lot of ways, it’s still 1985 in both places. Al Capone split his later years in both centres as well. Sign me up!
8 – MLB: The Blue Jays go for a sweep of San Francisco in a Sunday matinee and at 57-41, have a three game lead over the NY Yankees in the AL East. Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell told the RP Show he expects them to be “very active” ahead of the trade deadline on July 31. As far as a prediction goes, Arash Madani told us this week that it’s anybody’s guess. Don’t forget the Jays spent a period of time already this season dead-last in the division and that could well happen again. One thing’s for certain: we’re all paying attention.
9 – TAKE THE STAIRS: Saint John, New Brunswick’s Matt Stairs won a World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies and holds the MLB record for most career pinch hit homeruns. He told the RP Show this week he didn’t even watch the MLB Homerun Derby, basically because they’ve ruined it by not including the best sluggers, the in-event interviews, and all the other gimmicks they’ve used to turn it into a made-for-TV event. Frankly I was a little astonished at his take because I enjoyed it immensely – always do, every year – but how can you argue with Matt Stairs? By the end of the interview, Stairs laughed and admitted to being an old school traditionalist and that maybe he should get with the times. For the record, he’s against robotic umpires and placing runners on second base in extra innings but is FOR the pitch clock. Gosh, I wish they’d bring it into the WCBL.
10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: Confidence isn’t bought, borrowed or faked. It’s built. … The nickname “Der’s” didn’t really catch on, did it? … Some people aren’t worth the reply on Twitter. … We learned this week that Arland Bruce IV (AB’s son) has a hearing schedule in August with CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston about reinstatement. He was banned from the NCAA for betting while at Iowa. 57% of RP Show viewers said the youngest Bruce should NOT be reinstated. … God help them if THOSE people ever make a mistake. … Those Rider fans in BC could use some new jerseys. … Anybody else missing hockey? … The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday. But a rare young dinosaur skeleton stole the show when it fetched more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy. The 54-pound rock was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after having been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike and traveling 140 million miles to Earth, according to Sotheby’s. The T-Rex dinosaur skeleton, on the other hand, sparked a war among six bidders over six minutes. Bidding for the skeleton started with a high advance offer of $6 million, then escalated during the live round with bids $500,000 higher than the last and later $1 million higher than the last before ending at $26 million. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?
Y’er welcome,
RP
WCBL _ long time subscriber to FLOSPORTS, definitely going to check out the Moosejaw Miller Express and other league games _ Saskatoon Berries. I’ve been totally focused on The Tour de France 2025. Thanx for the reminder, I look forward to your Miller Express baseball calls Mr. Pedersen, Thanx 4sharing.
Luke Willson – I know you don’t like the twitter wars but him absolutely taking down MB has been glorious. He has come with receipts and is smashing the dude.
I didn’t say I wasn’t watching it! 😀
Luke Wilson, more! more Luke Wilson.
Luke Wilson’s supposed interest in the CFL will vanish when the nfl fires up
Loving what Luke Willson is doing, but we all know how this will end, don’t we? He’s freewheeling, not afraid to say something offensive and also appears to be completely white. Maybe it will be next week, maybe it will be in a few years, but it’s only a matter of time before he says something to offend people who don’t even go to football games and gets the Don Cherry treatment.