10 Weekend Things

Truth & Rumours

1 – Thought Nathan Rourke was supposed to save the BC Lions? And the CFL? The 26-year old quarterback has struggled in back-to-back outings, including BC’s 34-27 loss at Ottawa on Saturday night. I Tweeted that “the NFL ruined Nathan Rourke” and few disagreed. The comment was tongue-in-cheek of course, but Nathan’s not the same player he was in 2022 when he was named CFL’s Top Canadian. Now the question is how long will it take for him to regain MVP form? The clock’s ticking for the Lions.

2 – Saskatchewan’s first-place standing in the CFL West is safe following Week 12 – believe me, my Rider fan friends blew up my phone about it – but the Riders are entering Murderer’s Row. Up next are back-to-back games with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers beginning with the Labour Day Classic next Sunday. After starting 0-4, the Bombers have gone 5-2 to stand at 5-6 overall and can takeover first place with a win at Mosaic Stadium in Week 13. Meanwhile Canada’s Team (do they still call the Riders that?) have gone 1-5-1 since starting the season 4-0. Not *everyone* is on rookie coach Corey Mace’s back but they soon could be. As for offensive coordinator Marc Mueller, he’s forgotten more about football than any of the hacks criticizing him would ever know.

3 – One football guy I talked to this week feels the Riders don’t have the roster to compete in the end in the CFL West and that Mace never had a chance. He’s also not a believer in Rider QB Trevor Harris. Meanwhile another football guy – whom I request equally as much – said he can see the Riders rebounding from this slump to appear in the Grey Cup. He also feels Harris is as good a quarterback as there is in the CFL. In summary – everybody thinks they know but nobody knows for sure. So sit back and enjoy the debate, and the games.

4 – Kudos to Jeff Reinebold, whose University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors opened the college football season with a 35-14 victory over Delaware State in Honululu on Saturday night. The famed CFL coach is the Defensive Line coach at Hawaii and told me at Super Bowl that this is his dream job, and will be his last contract before retirement. Imagine waiting till you’re 66 years old to land your dream job!

5 – Heard this week that the job Chris Jones had lined up after being fired as Head Coach & GM of the Edmonton Elks was with the NFL’s New England Patriots. However for reasons only Jones knows, he opted for the Defensive Coordinator role with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Jones famously didn’t get along with Ticats GM Ed Hervey – that’s why the pair split after winning a Grey Cup in 2015 with the Eskimos – but I’m guessing both are mature enough to get along in The Hammer, and do what’s best for the team. And themselves.

6 – Trey Lance threw five interceptions for Dallas on Saturday and the Cowboys lost 26-19 to the Chargers in Jerry World in preseason play. The pundits laughed when Lance was chosen #3 by San Francisco in the 2021 NFL Draft, out of NDSU. It’s not a bigtime Conference, and the pick was a rare whiff by Niners GM John Lynch. If nothing else, Saturday’s showing upped Dak Prescott’s stock. 

Following Sunday’s three games, NFL preseason will be over and the final cutdown is on Tuesday. You want a Super Bowl pick? I’m going with the Kanas City Chiefs versus the Detroit Lions in New Orleans in February. Finally, I’ve given up on the Dallas Cowboys getting back there in the Jones regime.

7 – To hockey. It was 2021 and the WHL East Division was playing in a bubble in the Regina Brandt Centre. I was calling every game on television and one night, while watching 15-year old Brayden Yager with the Moose Jaw Warriors, a longtime NHL scout friend of mine leaned over and said, “Nathan MacKinnon 2.0”. I never forgot that, and mentioned it this week when the Winnipeg Jets landed the-now 19-year old forward from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Spreadsheet Scouts howled at my comment on Twitter, but to be frank, Yager has done nothing to dispel that label. Those nerds’ opinions don’t matter to me in the least, but we can all agree on one thing: the Jets won this trade.

8 – Heard this week that the new TV Voice of the Calgary Flames will be Jon Abbott. If so, good move! Jon’s called games on radio for the Canucks & Senators, plus the World Juniors on TSN Radio, and NLL games on TSN. In short, he’s paid his dues. Again, if the rumour’s true, Flames fans should be happy with who they’re getting.

9 – Broadcasting Notes: Feels like we’re seeing a lot less of Hazel Mae, doesn’t it? … I’ve had to add Sports 1440 Edmonton to my list of radio favourites on my iPhone. Those boys are good. … Listening on my morning run/walk to Satellite radio, the folks on NFL Radio, Dan Patrick, ESPN Radio, Pro Football Talk, etc. are all talking about the same thing: The NFL. It reminds me of the food scene in New Orleans. Every restaurant is serving the same thing: Gumbo, Jambalaya & Crawfish. Yet they’re all putting their own unique spin on it. Same as NFL coverage. Yet the guy I’ve settled on the most is Mike Florio on PFT. He tells it like is, works for himself, and isn’t a puppet for anybody. He’s also a lawyer by trade so he knows what he can, and can’t, get away with. It took two minutes of listening to him to figure that out. 

10 – Random Thoughts: Why be in a rush to get off an airplane? … The trend of wearing a backpack on your chest is disturbing to me. … This Friday I’ll be speaking at Saskatoon’s Battle For Recovery at TCU Place, a one-day event where we’ll celebrate Recovery from Addiction and Mental Health issues. The event is sold out. It’s the single greatest win of my life. Everything else is a bonus. … TacoTime has been serving the Taco In A Bag since September 1. Happy Anniversary to the greatest invention since the light bulb! … Next Saturday I’ll be hosting the 2nd Annual Labour Day Golf Classic at Aspen Links featuring greats from the Riders & Bombers Alumni. There’s still room to get your team in! … One week from today I’ll be on a plane home to Florida. Cannot wait to sleep in my own bed. … The largest diamond found in more than a century was unearthed at a mine in Botswana this week. The Botswana government says the huge 2,492-carat stone is the second-biggest ever discovered in a mine, and weighs approximately half a kilogram. Another smaller diamond from the same mine in Botswana was sold for $63 million in 2016, a record for a rough gem. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK1?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen