10 WEEKEND THINGS

TRUTH & RUMOURS

1 – WAIT A MINUTE: I’ve been waiting all week to ask why everyone’s so excited about Pfizer’s proposed new Covid vaccine which has a 90% success rate? Would you get on a plane that had a 90% chance of landing safely? I wouldn’t.

Cutting transmission in half isn’t going to save every life, which appears to be the goal.

But, as the doctors have pointed out to me, I’m not a doctor so STFU. Buckle up because this isn’t ending annnytime soon.

2 – MONEY’S TIGHT: Some CFL players are incensed with the league’s decision to cease covering 25% of the players’ wages in the CEWS program for anyone who switched teams in the off-season (Saskatchewan LB Nakas Anyeka is one of those, and has been vocal on Twitter about it). Frankly, I’m not surprised by the move. It’s another cost-cutting exercise and the money is running out. 

What we’ve learned in this pandemic is that CFL players have even less leverage than we ever thought and that’s going to play a factor whenever this league returns to play.

3 – 2021: I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it one more — Any effort put into a plan for the CFL to play in 2021 with fans in the stands is a waste of time and money. More and more it seems like the government isn’t going to budge on that 150 cap – or a number similar – so the CFL’s going to need to find a way to play, and make revenue based off increased sponsorships through stadium signage and TV rights, and other creativity. They’ve sold the spit out of the Grey Cup Unite initiative which begins on Monday, so they’re proving it can be done. Despite some hits in 2020, the CFL has a tremendous brand and there are enough companies with bucks who need to advertise, so this could work.

4 – SPORTS NOT IMPORTANT: It’s taken an incredibly long time for my eyes to open up to the fact that sports just isn’t that important in Canadians’ conscience. The only reason it’s taken so long is because I’ve spent a 30-year career in the industry and it’s never faced a crisis such as this. A lot of the sports folk are starting to realize the same thing. Yet, travel industry workers have had to find other jobs/careers and anyone else who’s been ravaged by furloughs and layoffs in their fields. At least I’ve accepted sports’ place in the hierarchy, rather than continued to fight it! The bottom line I’ve concluded for myself is this: what a blessed life it’s been. Incredibly lucky.

5 – KNOW THYSELF: It’s not like most of you don’t already know this but I thought I’d put in the column anyway. Sports wagering certainly makes the games more interesting. I’m not the biggest golf guy, but entering The Tap & Ballers Masters pool has given me more-than-casual interest in the major this weekend. (I selected Patrick Reid at #11 and he’s tied for 7th at the time of this writing). If you’re reading this column, then you know my history so I’m extremely careful on sports betting but $20 on the Masters is pretty harmless. Shoot, Woodbine Racing launched the Dark Horse App just this summer and by September’s Queens Plate, $14-million was wagered on race day.

There is huge, huge revenue potential there for the CFL.

6 – GUS, THE GOAT AND K.G.: It was a very exciting week on The RP Show. Among our guests were Pro Bowl NFL QB Gus Frerotte (who gave a shoutout to his many relatives in Saskatoon and Moose Jaw), TSN icon Bob McKenzie and Hall of Fame professional fan Krazy George! Normally right now we’d be discussing our favourite things which are the NHL, CFL, junior hockey, curling, NLL and the like but rather than sit around and moping for two hours daily, I’ve instructed Producer Clark Munroe to expand the rolodex and get creative. It’s worked out, and forced me to hone my skills as well. But it’s not like the Cease of Sports hasn’t hurt us.

Incidentally with the show’s move to national television on July 2 on Game+, we now have a daily reach of 2.1-million viewers in 10 provinces and 31 states across all our platforms. If we’d have been willing to move the show from its 10 am Central Time slot to later in the day, we’d be on live radio right now too but we prefer the time slot where it is. News on that is forthcoming.

7 – C-VILLE: It was a treat to get behind the microphone for Friday’s broadcast of the Pat Canadians and Notre Dame Hounds with my pal Neugsie at Cooperators Arena. The skill level of U18 AAA has taken a quantum leap since the last time I attended a game, which was in the Owen Sillinger era (and it was pretty good then too). There were several players on both sides with interesting bloodlines Friday night including Blake Heward (son of former NHL’er and current coach Jamie Heward), Ty Neckar (son former NHL’er Stanislav Neckar), Hunter Degelman (nephew of former MJ Warrior Rob Trumbley), Kyren Gronick (son of former Regina Pat Russ Gronick). Many were there to see Seattle Thunderbirds first round pick Sam Oremba of the Pat C’s, but he was snakebitten in a 3-1 loss. We’ll be calling each home game this season and I can’t tell you how good it felt to put on a suit and go to the rink for a game. If I spent the rest of my days working in junior hockey and hosting this show, I’d be a pretty happy camper.

8 – THE GOAT: Speaking of all that, Bob McKenzie is the Dean of hockey insiders and I asked him what his secret is to coming up with more scoops than Baskin Robbins. His answer was “GO TO THE RINK!”, meaning go visit with hockey people rather than have your nose stuck in your laptop or phone which the new generation seems to prefer. And true to that advice, I found out Friday night that the WHL WILL be playing come January 8, guaranteed. I’m not going to unveil any more details than that, but if you hear anyone utter “I can’t see the Dub playing this year”, you can tell them otherwise and that you heard it here.

9 – SIM GREY CUP: The Division Finals are over and the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa RedBlacks have emerged as the combatants in the Inaugural CFL SIM Grey Cup which will be carried at GreyCupUnite.ca and Facebook Live next Saturday! Saskatchewan vanquished Edmonton 34-14 on Saturday while Ottawa upset Calgary 28-19 at McMahon Stadium. We had 10,000 viewers and that number’s climbing as people continue to watch after-the-fact. Cody Fajardo versus Nick Arbuckle. Revenge of 1976. Perhaps Tony Gabriel will flip the coin! This is a juicy match-up. Thanks Canadian Football League for including our Esports League as part of Grey Cup Unite!

10 – RANDOMS TO END: Things come in 3’s. Reader Dave Morgan of CJTR-FM notified me last week that along with Alex Trebek and Howie Meeker passing away, we also said good-bye to Jim Neilson, the Big Chief from Big River, SK. Not only did he play 1,023 NHL games with primarily the N.Y. Rangers, Jim survived a childhood where he was snatched from his family and placed in an orphanage in P.A. at age 5. His son David was a great P.A. Raider and the family would be a great story for the hockey diversity program. … Troy Aikman says the Dallas Cowboys don’t need to draft a QB with a top pick in next year’s draft because they have Dak Prescott. It pains me to say it, but stick to the booth Troy! From the Eric Tillman school of management, I’m drafting Trevor Lawrence (Clemson) or Justin Fields (OSU) and using them as an asset to flip for a stud defensive starter. NFL Insider Tori Gurley tells us Aikman’s just assisting Prescott because the pair is close, and I find that analysis disappointing. … Things have worked out well. …  At The Movies: You’ll enjoy the thriller Let Him Go starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane which is in theatres now. It’s based in Montana and North Dakota, just a few hours’ drive from here, and partially filmed in Alberta. For a synopsis, I’d say it’s a cross between Netflix’s Animal Kingdom and the movie Tombstone. It’s a shoot-em-up western that’ll have you white-knuckling your seat. Go see it! … The Hockey Harvest Lottery goes live on Monday and it’s benefitting the education funds of the five Saskatchewan-based WHL teams. We’ll post the link here. Please support if you can!

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen