10 WEEKEND THINGS FOR REALTY ONE

*BREAKING NEWS: First thing Saturday morning the Montreal Alouettes announced Mike Sherman is out as Head Coach and Khari Jones is taking over on the interim. The Alouettes open the season Friday in Edmonton.

1 – CUTDOWN DAY: CFL teams need to have their final cuts into the league office by 8pm Sask Time on Saturday. This day – and the opening of free agency – are the two days of the year where the Rider Nation waits on pins and needles. Some players have already broken the news on Twitter. QB David Watford Tweeted on Friday, “Minor setback for a major comeback. God’s Plans.” Veteran DL Chad Geter Tweeted, “It’s been real Rider Nation”.  3Down is reporting DB Crezdon Butler has been released. Some of these guys will never play football again.

2 – THE GAME: When QB Isaac Harker was given so much playing time in Thursday’s 35-29 home preseason loss to Winnipeg, I thought “Oh I see what they’re doing. They’re giving him enough rope to hang himself”. However he climbed the rope, going 5/9 for 74 yards and a TD with a tidy efficiency rating of 119.7. That made Watford dispensible. However like Marquise Williams before him, Watford is another QB which the Riders invested a lot of time into only to eventually discard. Here’s hoping Harker works out!

3 – MORE: Ideally, Isaac Harker never sees the field in 2019. Top pivot Zach Collaros looked sharp against the Bombers (10/15, 163 yds, 2 TDs, 1 INT) and as long as he’s healthy, the Riders will be in the hunt in the CFL West. Back-up Cody Fajardo won the job over the past three weeks, and that’s what training camp and the preseason are for. Brandon Bridge and Jonathan Jennings did not win the starting jobs with the teams they signed with, so it’s becoming clearer and clearer that the O’Day/Dickenson tandem knows what it’s doing, including saying “No thanks” to those guys in free agency.

4 – IT’S BETTER IN THE STANDS: Thursday was the first time since 1998 that I sat in the stands at a Rider game. In 1998, Bill Clinton was President, Jean Chretien was Prime Minister and the top movies were Titanic and There’s Something About Mary. And, at that time, the Riders were pretty much junk and you could lay down on the east side bleachers at Taylor Field because there were so many empty seats. Fast forward to Thursday night, and a lot has changed! We had a blast. When I left the Regina Pats, it took 2 years to even feel comfortable going back to games and the only one who suffered was me. I’m diving right back into being a Rider fan, and season ticket holder. It feels GREAT.

5 – SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: The tailgate party held by the Regina Rifles and the Canadian Armed Forces on Thursday was sparsely attended and that’s a shame because I know how hard the soldiers worked to put it together. They had face-painting, concessions, kids games, beer gardens and lots more. It’s literally right across the street from the stadium! Any Rider fans I talked to said they’d have gone if they knew about it. So, now you know about it! The tailgate happens 2 hours before every Rider game. All proceeds go to the Officers Mess at the Armouries.

6 – THE RP SHOW: We just wrapped up the first week of The Rod Pedersen Show on Facebook Live and RodPedersen.com and it’s gone over WAY better than we could have hoped. Guests in our first week included Duron Carter, Kory Sheets, Jim Hopson, Chris Getzlaf, Colby Armstrong, Pete Loubardias, Gary Lawless, Jim Lang and Humboldt Broncos Coach/GM Scott Barney. Among our guests coming up in Week 2 is Wally Buono! This is a CFL show more than a Rider show, and it’s the buzz of the league.

Digital shows are the way of the future and we’re ecstatic to get in so early. For instance, because of the broadcast platform, we know that 87% of our viewers are from Saskatchewan. 9% are from Alberta and 3% are from Ontario. By the end of the week, our viewership was 27% female! These are the kind of stats that advertisers kill for, and that radio and TV stations can’t provide with any degree of accuracy. Perhaps most exciting is the fact that CFL teams are clamouring to put their players on because there’s such a lack of mainstream coverage in their markets. Stay tuned to see more! However unfortunately Calgary QB Bo Levi Mitchell has declined our invite to be on the show. I don’t blame him because I haven’t been that nice to him over the years. I’ve offered to make a live apology if he reconsiders, and I mean it.

7 – HOLY SHEETS: Former Rider and 2013 Grey Cup MVP Kory Sheets gave a jaw-dropping interview on Friday’s RP Show. He opened up on his struggles in Life After Football: “It was an attempted suicide,” Sheets said of his 5-day stay in an institution. “I saw the pain in my parents, my sisters and best friends. All I was doing is making them cry. I was tired of seeing me hurt the people I love. I realized I needed help. It was a long drive to the hospital.”

As we discussed, he faced his fears – took on his demons head-on – and now the worst is over.

“Ya I’ve moved on but, have YOU ever faced your fears?” to which I nodded ‘yes’. “It’s like, what the hell I got fear for now? I’ve done gone through the worst thing I could imagine and I’m still here! Nothing can really faze me anymore.”

If those words from Kory Sheets don’t show you what life is like once you do the right thing, nothing will!

8 – WE THE NORTH: One thing struck me while the Raptors were dismantling the Golden State Warriors 105-92 Friday night, grabbing a 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals. I thought, “Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry are this generation’s Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar“. If you’re old enough, you know I mean that these two guys are becoming household names across Canada because of their heroics with a Toronto sports team. Fingers crossed that the Raptors finish it off at home in Game 5, and spare us all the anguish of Games 6 and 7.

9 – STANLEY CUP FINAL: An RP Show Poll showed that 77% of Saskies are way more invested in the NBA Finals than they are in Stanley Cup Final. Yet, we’re still watching both. Commissioner Gary Bettman admitted before the Bruins-Blues series began that his head almost popped off over the Hand Pass in the Blues-Sharks series. If that’s the case, then he must’ve been downright homicidal over the Bozak Trip in Game 5 which helped award St. Louis the game, and a 3-2 series lead. The 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs will forever be known for the calamity that is NHL officiating, and will be the buzz all summer long. Disgraceful!

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: Who feels more sheepish these days than Dwayne Casey and Mike Yeo? The two fired coaches are seeing their former teams on the verge of winning championships less than a year after they were toasted. … Why is there no Roughriders reporter for The Athletic? … I dislike that the SJHL voted this week in favour of doing away with the Survivor Series. … The pizza burger from Bon Burger is the best hamburger in Regina. Hands-down … Only one thumb up from the MMG for the movie The Intruder starring Dennis Quaid. I only went because I’m a Quaid fan, and unfortunately he was the only good part of the movie. … Garth Brooks will be great, but I’d rather see George Strait. … The Pride festivities across the land have been great and kudos to the LGBT folks for having the courage to celebrate. I’d like to see a Recovery Walk for those affected by Addiction & Mental Health, but I doubt it would happen. There’s still too much shame! But not here. Like Kory Sheets, the worst is over for me. Anything after that is a cakewalk.

Y’er welcome,
@rodpedersen