10 WEEKEND THINGS FOR REALTY ONE

1 – CANADA DAY CLASH: At long last the Saskatchewan Roughriders are home for a meaningful game! The Riders (0-2) host the Toronto Argonauts (0-1) on Canada Day Monday at 5:00 pm at Mosaic Stadium. It’s the first time in 35 years the Riders and Argos have met on Canada Day. In 1984, Bob O’Billovich’s Argos beat Reuben Berry’s Riders 24-10.

2 – THE RETURN OF CHAMB: This time around it’s Corey Chamblin versus Craig Dickenson and each coach is looking for his first win of the season. In Dickenson’s case, he’s looking for his first career victory. Chamblin’s came on June 29, 2012 as his Roughriders routed the Ticats in Hamilton 43-16 in Week 1. Dickenson was on Chamblin’s staff that year but fled to Winnipeg in 2013, missing out on that magical Grey Cup run. A large ovation for Corey on Monday would be appropriate. He’s on the Mount Rushmore of Rider coaches.

3 – THE FACTS: The Riders are 0-2 but a win on Monday could deliver a massive early season turnaround. Their losses have been by a combined nine points, and both were on the road down east. That’s hardly critical at this point of the season. It’s a big game for Cody Fajardo who told CTV Regina he wants to prove his Week 2 performance at Ottawa was no fluke. His 360 yards against the RedBlacks were the most-ever by a quarterback making his Saskatchewan Roughriders debut!

4 – TOP OF THE O’DAY: Former Rider GM Alan Ford is an absolute treasure to talk football with. He is a staunch supporter of current GM Jeremy O’Day, in fact signing O’Day as a free agent here in 1999. At Thursday’s Jon Ryan Charity Golf Classic, the cronies at our table were groaning about the Riders’ QB position and the Collaros injury. Ford sniped, “And what else was Jeremy supposed to do? Who else would you have signed? He did the best he could in a bad situation“. The table fell silent!

5 – BREAK UP THE TICATS: Hamilton’s football team proved their worth Friday night with a 41-10 drubbing of the Montreal Alouettes. That’s a helluva team Eric Tillman built. They are crowing in The Hammer about this being their first 3-0 start since 2004. George W. Bush was President back then. Paul Martin was Prime Minister. Spider Man II was #1 at the box office. Uhhh, that wasn’t that long ago.

6 – CFL ATTENDANCE: They were 2,000 shy of a sellout at 24,000-seat Tim Hortons Field on Friday night and it says here that’s unacceptable. Barely over 25,000 showed up in Winnipeg for Canada’s Game of the Week on Thursday (a 28-21 Bomber win over the Eskimos), but at least it looked good on TV. I’m not sure why CFL attendance is down 6.7% but DO NOT blame moving the season up a few weeks. There were raucous crowds at MLS games this week for Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact. It’s not a “summer” thing. It’s about marketing and PR.

7 – THE BIG DOG: Rider Hall of Famer Nate Davis made his Rod Pedersen Show debut this week and he was a riot! Regarding perhaps the most infamous sack celebration of all-time – Davis lifting his leg like a dog to feign peeing on Winnipeg QB Khari Jones in the 2003 WSF – Nate shrugged “It was an accident”. NO IT WASN’T! Nate also had some stern words for the CFL regarding its handling of the Simoni Lawrence-Zach Collaros situation. Nate has always been a highly intelligent, generally misunderstood guy.

8 – THE RP SHOW: To say we’ve been overwhelmed by the reaction to our new show on Facebook Live would be an understatement. In less than a month, we’ve surpassed 100,000 views and that doesn’t include audio-only listeners, or podcasts. 38% of our viewers are female. The top cities for viewers are in this order: 1) Regina, 2) Saskatoon, 3) Calgary, 4) Winnipeg, 5) Edmonton, 6) Estevan, 7) Moose Jaw, 8) Prince Albert, 9) Yorkton, 10) Swift Current. The guest list this week alone was staggering, including Henry Burris, Gary Lawless, Jim Popp, Peter Dyakowski, Jim Hopson, Nate Davis, Eddie Davis, Roger Brandvold and more. If you’re sick of endless soccer and tennis highlights or other daytime TV, come give us a try. You can Listen Live as well daily from 10:00a-12:00p MT at rodpedersen.com/listenlive.

9 – FREE AGENT FRENZY: This current week is the only quiet one of the year for the NHL and the biggest news was the retirement of Roberto Luongo. Hall of Fame or not for Bobby Lou? Regarding the start of free agency on Monday, the list I received from the NHL was underwhelming. Panarin, Duchene, Pavelski, Dzingel, Zuccarello, Simmonds, Williams, etc. Or is it just me?

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: How much rain is too much? … Ottawa’s Lewis Ward has kicked a CFL-record 57 straight field goals. That’s 18 more than the next closest guy. Sacre bleu. … Don’t give me a dirty look in Chapters if I’m doing an interview on my phone and am too loud. It’s not a library. … Alouettes DE John Bowman updated fans via Twitter regarding his injury Friday night, saying he’s fine. If players managed social media right (like that), they wouldn’t need the media. That’s why opinion shows like ours are the way of the future. … The games have started and people have generally forgotten about the really important issues in the CFL: the sale of the Alouettes, the fledgling Atlantic Schooners franchise, and the status of Weston Dressler and Rob Bagg. … What does one do in the province on Canada Day Weekend? I haven’t had one off for 20 years. IT’S GREAT!

RP
@rodpedersen