10 WEEKEND THINGS

Taking Shots …

1 – DEFENDING PARADISE: Call it a gift. Somehow or another, I always end up where the action is. My phone’s been blowing up this week from CFL & NFL personnel types saying, “We’ll see you in Boca on Sept. 9 for Ohio-FAU!” That’s when CFL #1 Draft prospect Kurtis Rourke and his Bobcats visit Tom Herman’s FAU Owls. It appears Howard K. Schnellenberger Field at FAU Stadium will be filled to capacity with scouts alone!

My inbox has also been jammed with emails from FAU Football trumpeting their 2023 campaign, “New Coach, New Conference … New Era.” Last season we broadcast the RP Show live from the Boca Raton Bowl featuring Liberty vs Toledo in December. Who will be in the big game this year? The suspense!

The Owls fired head coach Willie Taggart last year after failing to make it to their hometown Bowl game. That’s championship expectations folks.

jUsT bE gLaD wE hAvE a TeAm

2 – HOLD YOUR HORSES: 5-time Grey Cup champion and CFL On TSN analyst Jim Barker says he wouldn’t draft Rourke with the #1 overall pick if he was at the draft table. “Not a chance,” Barker huffed on Friday’s RP Show. “I don’t see any way that he’s going to be in our league.” What a wet blanket! 

But somebody’s gonna take him with a flyer, just not likely at #1. Wanna know which teams are gonna be at the game on September 9???

3 – HOLD YOUR HORSES II: It’s very tough to leave Calgary after another exceptional summer there (massive thank you to Century Downs Racetrack & Casino btw), but also not a bad thing to leave the cauldron of coffee row. With Friday’s 39-31 loss to the Toronto Argonauts, the Stampeders have fallen to 3-8 which, if it hasn’t sounded off alarm bells at McMahon Stadium already, it should. What I mean by ‘getting off coffee row’ is that the buzz among football fans in Cowtown is that Dave Dickenson’s job is in jeopardy since the team is in serious danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

Just stop it. Although if they do miss the playoffs, someone will walk the plank. It just won’t be Dave Dickenson who’s earned much more than being whacked after one ‘off’ season. Perhaps it’ll be an assistant coach, or maybe it’ll be quarterback Jake Maier.

How do you suppose Bo Levi Mitchell feels about the Stamps woes?

4 – SHIP AHOY: We interrupt this warm and fuzzy CFL column to bring you quotes from Saskatchewan Roughriders kicker Brett Lauther, the pride of Truro, Nova Scotia, regarding CFL expansion to the Maritimes on Wednesday’s RP Show. “I used to feel like I knew a little more before Covid and that it was actually going to happen,” Lauther said on our weekly CFLPA Player Spotlight presented by Sober Carpenter Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer.  “At this point it’s tough to really say. I still hear stuff behind the scenes but I feel like a broken record myself. I’m at the point where, if it happens it’ll be awesome. If not, it doesn’t.”

What excitement! Over to you Randy.

5 – MEDIA ROW: Still getting used to seeing Hall of Fame football sportswriters in CFL press boxes adorned head-to-toe in team apparel. Very, very strange. I hope they get a ring!

6 – RICH PEOPLE: Speaking of getting used to things, over the past couple years I’ve found a large difference between Alberta oil people and Saskatchewan oil people. The Albertans are dressed in fancy boots and crisp Wranglers, and are happy to tell you how much money they have! The Sask oilmen are in plaid jackets, work boots and ball caps and will never tell you how much they have. They BOTH have millions upon millions and fortunately for me, they love to talk sports.

Florida is just another world entirely. One guy I chum with said he made his millions in bonds. I don’t even know WTF that is! But it’s fun to find out. 

BTW before we left Calgary, we were able to add sponsors Overtime Hockey Lanes and Common Crown Brewing to the RP Show. Check them out if you’re in Alberta, or passing through!

7 – AMERICA’S TEAM: Massive news Friday afternoon that the Dallas Cowboys have acquired quarterback Trey Lance from the San Francisco 49ers. Cowboys fans immediately pencilled him in as the heir apparent to Dak Prescott. However as a staunch Cowboys fan since 1990, I’ll say this: Lance is nothing more than a discard by the 49ers, and dealing him away is a move to make people forget about their whiff with the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 Draft. Also, everybody knows if Dak gets hurt, the season goes down the drain anyway.

And yes, I know Trey Lance’s father used to play for the Roughriders.

8 – TV TALK: We were inundated with messages on Friday that the RP Show was airing across Western Canada on Shaw/Rogers Channel 230 for the first time. That was news to us! We’ve been patiently waiting for the fruits of the Rogers/Shaw takeover deal and it finally appears Shaw has added our TV partner Game+ Television to their channel lineup. That means the RP Show is in an additional 7-million homes across Western Canada, live daily 10 am MT-Noon.

What a thing to have happen on our final day in Alberta!!!!!!

9 – UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL: I went to CanadaWest.org to find the preseason football scores for the Rams and Huskies from Thursday and Friday this week. Can’t find ’em, although the regular season schedule is up there, beginning Sept. 1. Am I looking in the wrong place? Someone help me out. I’m also looking for the annual Coaches Poll. Since I can’t find it under the ‘NEWS’ tab, I’m assuming the poll will be released this week? Stay tuned.

**UPDATE: Jackson Imrie has informed me that the Bisons downed the Rams 26-7 and the Huskies clobbered the Dinos 48-6. The info is on the team websites. (I’m like the fans now … I need and want to be spoon-fed the info.)

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: I’ve always found horses very difficult to interview. … In a battle of two high schools with the same name, the Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs (FL) defeated the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders (NC) by a score of 28-21 on Friday evening at Bud Tight Field in Ft. Lauderdale. (Yes, I spelled that correctly). The Chiefs are coached by CFL alum and my buddy Matt Dubuc, and you’re going to be hearing a lot about them this fall. The Chiefs are 3-time Florida 5A State champions, on Matt’s watch. … GINGER BEEF WAS INVENTED IN CALGARY! How bout that? … Thanks to Gregg Drinnan’s blog, I learned WHL Commissioner Ron Robison is retiring after this season. He’s a great man and the Indian Head, SK product has done a fine job over the past 20+ years. I didn’t agree with everything he did, and I told him, and I respect the fact he didn’t care! Happy retirement Ron. … It’ll always be Twitter to me. … The second I got the new Tim Horton’s Reese’s Dream cookie under my nose, I knew it was the second-best cookie I’ve ever had in my life. The Pink Cadillac Pink Sugar cookie from Crumbl Cookies is #1. … “The pilot doesn’t show up at 10:59 for an 11:00 flight. Show up early and get prepared.” – source: John Paddock. … More emojis we’d like to see in the next Apple update: a barn, and a chuckwagon. … I’m not even in the States yet and I’m already sick of Trump talk. … Gotta run, hafta to catch a plane. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen