10 WEEKEND THINGS FOR TITAN AUTO

1 – NORTHERN SASK: Greetings from beautiful Emma Lake, SK! It’s been a treat to spend the weekend up here in hockey country, home to legendary hockey families like the Mansons, the Tippetts, the Regehrs, the Nelsons and many, many more. Yet, more than half the cabins sport a Rider flag, sign or some sort of paraphernalia. It begs the question of whether Saskatchewan is a hockey province, or a football province? The correct answer of course is: Both.

2 – C.G.O.T.W: Rod Pedersen Show viewers and listeners voted Saturday’s Alouettes/Stampeders tilt as Canada’s Game of the Week, and boy did they nail it! Montreal stunned Calgary 40-34 in double overtime at McMahon Stadium in a real heart-stopper. That was a classic CFL contest, and a great commercial for the league. It also flipped the CFL West standings on their head, with the Stamps dropping to 4th-place at 5-4. 

3 – BLM: It was another game where Stamps star QB Bo Levi Mitchell was on the sidelines, on the 6-game Injured List. Calgary’s lost back-to-back games and, with them on a 2-game mini-losing streak, you have to wonder if they’d have won those games with Bo on the field? (i.e. Each loss without him ups his value). The Stampeders now head into a bye week with plenty more questions than answers. *Oh, and don’t leave games in the hands of the officials. There were plenty of chances to win the game prior to the last play, which went to review.

4 – STANDINGS WATCH: If the Saskatchewan Roughriders were cheering for anyone in that game, you’d have to think it was Montreal. Crossover bedamned. There’s plenty of football to be played over the next few months but the Riders have to be sniffing 1st-place. At 5-3, they’ve got a game in hand over Winnipeg (7-2) and Edmonton (6-3). Currently riding a 4-game winning streak and getting better, the Riders must be dreaming of a home playoff game.

5 – WEEK 10 THOUGHTS: Hamilton DB/KR Frankie Williams is the most electrifying player in the CFL at the moment. … The Eskimos are the most under-the-radar team in the CFL, and have been all season long. Watch out for them. … 16,490 turned out Friday in Toronto to see the Argos fall 41-26 to the Esks. Why were we led to believe BMO Field was going to be filled to capacity? (No fault of the Argos, but the pregame hype suggested as much). Either way, the fans in attendance seemed to be having a ball.

6 – MORE: Ottawa kicker Lewis Ward saw his pro football record of 69 straight field goals fall Saturday afternoon in a home loss to Hamilton. The NFL’s Adam Vinatieri has the next-closest streak at 44. Some are suggesting Ward’s record will never be broken. However as famed coach Gary Etcheverry is fond of saying, “Never’s a long time”. … Hopefully CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie doesn’t come down too hard on the participants in Saturday’s pregame fights between the Stamps and Alouettes. Boys will boys, and the game is missing some “fire” these days. Controversy sells. … Has Winnipeg’s Chris Walby actually eaten the now famous Walby Burger being offered at Bomber games?

7 – UPON REVIEW: There’s lots of CFL fans up here in Lake Country and they tell me the incessant coaches challenges and automatic reviews are slowing down the games and causing fans to lose interest. (Particularly Corey Chamblin’s back-to-back Roughing The Passer yellow flags Friday night). However it says here video review is a necessary evil and it’s impacted all pro leagues, not just the CFL. Kudos to the Command Centre for getting the reviews right, at least, in Week 10. However Stamps coach Dave Dickenson likely has a fine coming his way for his postgame comments following the review decision on the game’s final play Saturday night, which led to an Als win. (It seemed like the correct call to us).

8 – THE YEAR OF THE RETURN: There are plenty of great opinions on why return TDs are wayyyyyy up in the CFL in 2019. Neal Hughes feels it’s due to a lack of lane responsibility by the cover teams. Luc Mullinder says it’s a breakdown in tackling fundamentals. Marshall Hamilton says it’s due to the influx of return specialists who’ve been spurned by the NFL. I say it’s because of a lack of effort and discipline. Either way, it’s damn exciting!

9 – WEATHER PROTOCOL: The CFL and its Players Association released a statement saying they are pleased with the new policy on weather-affected games, but are willing to tweak it this off-season. They say they’ll get together the relevant stakeholders – team and league executives, players, GMs, coaches and officials. I say you forgot one important group guys: THE FANS!!!!!

10 – TOUCHDOWN ATLANTIC: It’s finally here! Week 11 features the return of Touchdown Atlantic in Moncton, NB next Sunday between the Alouettes and Argos in a huge East Division collision. I’ll be on hand to host the CFL Alumni Golf Classic in Moncton featuring Randy Ambrosie, Hall of Famers Miles Gorrell and Damon Allen, and many more alumni including Rider great Jeff Fairholm. What an absolute blast we will have! If you live in the region, please join us. There are still tickets available for the game.

*RANDOM THOUGHTS: One issue with The Rod Pedersen Show – our viewers are young and this week in our Top Canadian of All-Time poll, respondents said they’d never seen nor heard of Russ Jackson or Roger Aldag. Hey, at least they care! Now it’s up to people like us to educate the younger fans, and continue to recognize and honour our heroes. … A hearty kudos to Khari Jones and Vernon Adams Jr. for restoring credibility to the Alouettes franchise. Their fans are engaged, big-time! … The WHL fans up here don’t agree with RP Show pundits that the Saskatoon Blades will be the team-to-beat in the Dub this season. They’re all watching our show, but say watch out for the Brandon Wheat Kings. … Hats off to the Regina Red Sox for capturing the WCBL conference pennant, and falling just short in the league final to the Okotoks Dawgs. We are blessed to have such a class group of people running the Red Sox. … The PFC season kicks off Sunday and the Regina Thunder visit Edmonton at 1:00 pm MT. You can watch the game at cjfltv.com. The Hilltops are at Winnipeg. . … You’ll be hearing a lot this week about the upcoming Canadian Elite Basketball League Championship Weekend in Saskatoon (Aug. 23-25). It’s a Memorial Cup format, featuring the host Saskatchewan Rattlers. Rattlers President Lee Genier will be in our bunker on Monday with the CEBL Trophy to start the hype!

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen