10 WEEKEND THINGS

RANDOMS FROM SOUTH FLORIDA …

1 – RIDERS ROAR: With Friday’s 31-24 victory at BC, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and their fans can likely start making plans to host the 2021 CFL Western Semifinal. At 5-2 – and just one win behind the first place Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-1) – top spot isn’t out of the question either but the Bombers deserve that top seeding. They’re clearly the class of the league. But the Riders are good too and with seven games to go, they’re well on their way to reaching my preseason win prediction of eight (8).

2 – SPRINKLE OF JESUS: CFL types are groaning about the touchdown awarded Cody Fajardo with 20 seconds to go against the Lions, on a plunge. They felt he didn’t get the ball across the line, and “tucked it”. I countered that Fajardo is the golden boy of the CFL and is going to get those calls from the officials. Personally, I like it. Now if he could just win over the football gods and those nasty magnetic goalposts late in games, then Saskatchewan would be legitimate Grey Cup favourites.

3 – JONES’ING: The Toronto Argonauts are 1-0 with Chris Jones as defensive consultant after Friday’s 30-27 home win over Montreal. I didn’t catch all of the game (it’s tough for us East Coast’ers!) but those insiders say Jones’ fingerprints were all over that game plan, and the Argos were blitz happy. Don’t worry about the Argos being over the salary cap with players and/or coaches. Remember when then were in 2019 but got a pass from Commissioner Randy Ambrosie? There’s no reason to assume that won’t happen again. Things like this are what make it very difficult to cover the CFL.

4 – REDBLACKS: They’re hot in Ottawa with the RedBlacks at 1-5, playing horrible football, and losers of 11 straight at home. At the time of this writing, Marcel Desjardins is still Ottawa’s GM but I don’t expect that to be the case for long. Hey – I’m not saying he deserves to be fired, but this is just how it goes. Whom else should walk the plank?

5 – NEXT MAN UP: The rumblings across the league regarding the next GM in Ottawa have brought up the names John Murphy, Eric Tillman and Shawn Burke. There’s even word the GM role could be given to Head Coach Paul LaPolice in a two-fer deal. Would that surprise you? Not me. With cash tight, Lapo could easily assume the dual role and all the RedBlacks would have to hire would be a personnel guy at a far cheaper wage. You can’t swing a cat on this continent without hitting an out-of-work, but quality, football scout.

6 – DROP THE PUCK: You may or not believe it but down here in South Florida I’ve heard this phrase daily from sports fans: “I can’t wait for hockey season”. Well, it begins this weekend! And they’re tremendously excited about the Florida Panthers who’ve seldom had this much hype in their 28 seasons. On Sunday the Panthers host Nashville in a doubleheader and yours truly will be on hand in the press box. The times they are a’changing.

7 – JERSEY ADS: There’s been plenty of bellyaching about NHL teams selling ad space on their jerseys beginning with the 2022-23 season but I can assure you the teams don’t hear it. At a rumoured $5-million per team in revenue, this was a no-brainer. And with more and more of you staying at home due to financial or Covid reasons, the teams need to make up the money somewhere.  SELL, SELL, SELL.

8 – TRAINING CAMPS: You’ve gotta love the NHL in that they hold just a few days of practices in training camp and then get straight to the games! One of the great aspects of the RP Show is our engagement with fans & viewers and many of them chimed in with training camp reports from across the continent this past week. For instance in Columbus, we learned Regina’s Cole Sillinger was centring the Blue Jackets top line with Laine and Voracek. Sillinger, son of NHL & Pats great Mike, sat in the RP Show studio this summer and said he was going to Columbus at age 18 to make the team. Looks like he’s doing it! The report I got is Cole’s looking “really, really fantastic”.

9 – RP SHOW: Hopefully you’ve had the opportunity to catch our live shows from South Florida this week on Game+ TV Network, AccessNow TV, Facebook & YouTube and/or RodPedersen.com/ListenLive. As promised we’ve veered off into way more NFL, NHL, NCAA & MLB talk which has made our national sponsors happy but we’ve still served up a hearty dose of CFL, USPORTS, Rugby, CHL talk & more which has pleased the local sponsors. I was originally scheduled to return to Canada later this week but with the Regina Pats home-opener broadcast on October 2 being bumped from AccessNow to CBC and my services not being required now until October 10, I’ve elected to stay in Florida. The Panthers have obliged with a press box seat for their home games this season. Again, the times they are a’changing.

10 – FINAL RANDOMS: Week 2 was a tough week to be an NFL quarterback. … Game of Week 3: Tampa Bay at L.A. Rams. … They hate the Buccaneers here in South Florida, but love Tom Brady. … What’s better than the taste of a pumpkin scone and Starbucks coffee in your mouth at the same time? … Las Vegas may now be America’s new sporting capital. This weekend Sin City is hosting six pro sports: NFL, NASCAR, UFC, NHL, MLS and minor league baseball. Doesn’t seem like that long ago that Vegas was a sleepy little sports town. … People keep talking about the possibility of Zach Collaros getting hurt and the Bombers going into a freefall. Has there been any evidence to suggest this may happen? … Edmonton and Calgary have never missed the CFL playoffs in the same year. That’s proof enough that Covid is still a thing. … Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem to be a thing in Florida. … Love the attention being given by sports fans to the Ryder Cup. But I just can’t get into it. Can’t be into everything! … Specializing in pro football and hockey isn’t the worst thing when you host a daily sports talkshow in Canada and the USA. Reminder: Over half of our RP Show viewers are in America! Go figure. … Career Update: I’m still not pursuing a play-by-play position but have been approached by several pro teams. The caveat holds that I must remain host of the RP Show, and everything comes after that. They’re more receptive than you think! In fact, getting more receptive all the time. 

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen