10 WEEKEND SUPER BOWL THINGS

Taking Shots …

1 – LOS ANGELES, CA: It’s our first Super Bowl, but it assuredly will not be our last. Super Bowl LVI in Tinseltown has been everything I’ve expected from the NFL championship and its two-week buildup and more. Frankly for a lifetime it’s been a Bucket List item, but now it’s going into the RP Show calendar on a yearly basis. Arizona next year, Las Vegas the year after that. Why? Read on …

2 – THE SHOW: It’s the biggest of the big. Super Bowl Week has combined the biggest sports stars with the biggest stars of the entertainment world so there’s no reason for anyone on the continent not to know it’s going on. You know me – you’ve been reading this column for a long time – so you know I like to eavesdrop on the convos in the coffee shops, gym locker rooms and hotel lobbies. It’s ALL about the Rams & Bengals and that’s for about a 90-mile radius. Every city and neighbourhood is decked out with SB LVI banners (with the exception of chic Beverly Hills) and there are interactive exhibits in every mall in the county. Almost every radio ad has a Super Bowl theme, the deejays are talking about it, the restaurants have Super Bowl specials, and on, and on. But even THAT’S not why I’ve loved it so much.

3 – THE PARTIES: I had to pick and choose between the endless sea of Super Bowl parties and settled on Mike Ditka & Ron Jaworski’s Cigars With The Stars benefitting Gridiron Greats. Gridiron Greats is a charity which lends a hand to NFL & CFL Alumni who’ve fallen on hard times and I’ve had an association with them in the past. So this was an easy $500US to drop. Unlike the parties former 49er and CFLer Daved Benefield spoke of at Prince’s mansion featuring beach bunnies and shawties, the Ditka & Jaws event was Old NFL. Gray hair, cigars, trophy wives, prosthetics and scotch. PERFECT! There I rubbed elbows with the NFL Legends and generally spent the evening in awe. I didn’t say much. (The rookie doesn’t change the music in the locker room). But it was a great way to get the “lay of the land”.

4 – THE MOJ: Gotta take a minute to single out and thank Bob “The Moj” Marjanovich, the Voice of the BC Lions and longtime Vancouver radio king. He and his producer Mike Whittingham took me around the Ditka & Jaws event and introduced me to a bevy of NFL stars including Ron Jaworski (The Polish Rifle) himself, Solomon Wilcots, Jim McMahon, Green Bay radio legend Bill Michaels and many more. That really showed me what a great person Moj is. (Pronounced “MOE-J”). I knew Cris Carter from before, so that was cool. (C.C. wasn’t allowing pictures because he didn’t want to start a scene). No one else I met had a problem with that, like RG III, Randy Grimes and more, haha.

Next year I’ll have a much better way to approach things, but this party’s always going to be a must. Who else would you rather see?

5 – RADIO ROW: Moj was all over me about “You gotta be on Radio Row!”, “You gotta be on Radio Row!”. Marjanovich is a veteran of over 20 Super Bowls and said the tradeshow-like convention centre featuring every media outlet from ESPN to NFL Radio to The Pat McAfee Show to ESPN Wichita was there. However The Rod Pedersen Show was not and in the next point I’ll tell you why. But Moj was able to interview Joe Montana, Deebo Samuel, Troy Aikman and the biggest names. Hey, I get it! I spent some time there this week and that’s where I got to know The Playmaker Michael Irvin. Meeting him was, as one of our viewers said, “every Cowboy fan’s dream”. But Radio Row is not for us.

6 – WESTIN-LAX AND PCL: Ever since the RP Show launched in 2019, President & Owner Darren Dupont has spoken of attending Super Bowls, Grey Cups, NHL All Star Weekends and the like and setting up shop at a splashy nearby hotel. (Apparently Dan Patrick has done this for years). So with the sponsorship help of PCL Limited out of Los Angeles – shoutout Lee Genier – we were able to broadcast live all week from the Westin-LAX Los Angeles Airport Hotel. There, we were able to erect a massive set (check out our social media feeds for photos) and welcome down sports stars like Jarret Stoll, Daved Benefield, Dan Moriarty, Cam Judge and others for full length interviews. It came off as extremely impressive, and very much pleased our sponsors and TV network Game+. Dupont with the win again!

7 – THE STARS: Some inside stuff from those interviews … Jarret Stoll will NOT be attending Super Bowl with his wife Erin Andrews. Fox doesn’t have the broadcast (NBC does) so with nothing to do, it was Erin’s idea to hang out at home and watch the game. They get enough of the hubbub. … Stoll is working with the L.A. Kings now as a development coach and “absolutely loves” it. The Neudorf, SK product spent 40 minutes talking hockey with us and said he could’ve done it all day. … As for Daved Benefield, Mr Furious was in his hometown of L.A. visiting his son and catching up with old pals from NFL Network and the 49ers. I’ve always been in awe of Daved, whether it was on the field, in the broadcast booth or just shooting the spit. We’re similar people. … Same goes for Cam Judge and the Calgary Stampeders linebacker made the hour long drive to see us and spend 40 minutes as well. The former Roughrider, Argonaut and UCLA Bruin has always helped me at the drop of a hat for years and for that, I’ll always be a fan. He said he signed with the Stamps for several reasons including their chances of winning it all, proximity to his girlfriend in Las Vegas, and the sell job done by Dave Dickenson and John Hufnagel. Great guy!

8 – THE GAME: Oh ya, the game. Just like Grey Cup, the actual match-up at Super Bowl can get lost in the shuffle unless you’re really zeroing in on the coverage, reading the stats and watching the networks. However nothing I’ve heard all week has caused me to move off my prediction of the hometown Los Angeles Rams winning by double digits over the upstart Cincinnati Bengals. (Think of a 2013 Roughriders kind-of-a-thing). This All Star team was built for this moment and head coach Sean McVey isn’t going to let them take their eye off the ball. Plus they were in this thing a few years ago and were humiliated by the Patriots. Many of those players remain and have a large chip on their shoulder. Rams will roll.

9 – BUT ….: It’s not just another game. Once it kicks off it is, and it’ll come down to who makes the least mistakes and commits the fewest turnovers. However everything else is unlike anything the young Bengals have ever experienced before. The players’ families are here and that comes with a boatload of distractions. Practices are all over the valley and each one is a road trip in itself. The TV timeouts in the game are twice as long as normal, as is halftime. Belichick had the Patriots prepared for this last time while McVey did not. That’s another thing, I feel, in the Rams favour.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: So I’m not comparing much of this to the CFL. I started a holy war on Saturday by Tweeting that we need to make Canadian sporting events “must-attend” and faced the firing squad. As usual, people misunderstood me and thought I was saying the Grey Cup should feature $7,000 tickets. … No, that’s not what I’m saying. NFL Insider Jim Lang told the RP Show this week that the NFL “took off” financially when it started marketing its stars, marketing itself better, and benefitted from increased media exposure. The CFL does none of this. But I’m over arguing about it. So over it. … Junior leagues, NLL and the like have affordable tickets but attendance is declining everywhere. YOU NEED TO GIVE PEOPLE A REASON TO COME. … Forget it. … How times change. As I was leaving the Ditka party at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, RG III was just walking in and things were just heating up. I’m very okay with this change. … In fact, Mike Ditka wasn’t even there. “America’s Coach” has been in declining health and hasn’t attended the party the past few years. It’s a shame, but I get it. Ditka doesn’t owe anyone, anything. … It’s hard to believe the NFL ever had only one week between the conference championships and Super Bowl. It’s been a two week break for several years now, and it affords the league plenty of time to get merchandise made, travel plans outlined and all the rest. I think it’s great! However the CFL likely doesn’t need it. … The Olympics cram all their events in a two week period. The NFL uses two weeks to build up to ONE game. Crazy. … I contend the CFL gets more respect in the USA than it does in Canada. Michael Irvin, Sol Wilcots and the rest all thought my resume was very cool. Cris Carter already knew it was. We met years ago when he was in Toronto to watch Duron and address the Riders as a team. … With the influx into L.A. on the weekend, I actually got OUT and travelled down to La Jolla, CA on the weekend. That’s where Craig Dickenson lived when he coached the NFL’s Chargers. Great place to visit, wouldn’t want to live here. … It’s pretty, but also pretty expensive. … Same goes for LA. … Although that may change. Game+ TV is owned by AXS-TV whose headquarters are right smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles. Game+ V.P. of Programming in Toronto Shawn McCormick told us we should check out the downtown LA studio because it “overlooks Staples Centre from the balcony”. Guess what? IT OVERLOOKS STAPLES CENTRE FROM THE BALCONY (aka Crypto.com Arena). When we walked in, the producers had the RP Show playing on all their screens. They’ve got BIG plans for the RP Show, as it’s the highest-rated show on their network. Thank YOU for that. … I’m getting used to this.

Enjoy the game,
RP
@rodpedersen