10 MIDWEEK THINGS FOR REALTY ONE

1 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY THE FLAME: Roughriders franchise icon The Flame turned 70 this month. Any Rider fan over the age of 25 should know the antics of Weyburn product Sandy Monteith, who let off a gigantic flame from his helmet whenever Saskatchewan scored a TD. I published a post on his actual birthday on July 8, but was encouraged to take it down because they thought he’d passed away. When reached at his home in Saskatoon this weekend, that was news to Sandy! The Flame is one of the pillars of this team’s past.

2 – WELCOME BACK 1: The Riders returned from a bye week and hit the practice field on Tuesday minus Zach Collaros. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone since he’s on the 6-game Injured List. No, this is Cody Fajardo’s team now and his 4th career start this Saturday against BC represents the biggest of his young career. One of our pundits surmised the Riders “stumbled upon” their next franchise QB in Fajardo but I took umbrage with that. It’s too hard to find good QBs and GM Jeremy O’Day is too calculating for this to have been by chance. And as former Oiler, Pat and Blade Todd Strueby of Lanigan, SK is fond of saying, “there’s no such thing as luck”.

3 – WELCOME BACK 2: Reports from Rider practice indicate WR Emmanual Arceneaux and LB Solomon Elimimian are practicing with the 1st teamers. That means “The Manny Show” should make his Rider debut Saturday night against his former club. It’s Elimimian’s old team too and he’s got 2 reasons to play like his pants are on fire: 1) It’s his old team, and 2) He was criticized for average play in his Rider debut on July 6.  Tough crowd.

4 – THINGS I LIKE: The CFL is getting a rough ride from critics these days but there are plenty of things I like about it: 1) Thursday Night Games, 2) Officiating. There haven’t been many missed calls, nor blunders from the Command Centre. 3) Flow of game. There wasn’t one challenge in the July 6 Riders-Stampeders game. 4) The Play Football initiative, and 5) The Summer Concert Series. All in all, the CFL is going the right way under Randy Ambrosie. He had a lot to fix and can’t do it all at once.

5 – SHIPS AHOY: The Atlantic Schooners have announced a series of Pass, Punt & Kick competitions for Maritimes youth leading up to Touchdown Atlantic on August 25 in Moncton. Schooners frontman Anthony Leblanc says these camps are for “the next generation of Atlantic Schooners”. What a positive program! Btw, if you haven’t done so yet, make plans to join us in Moncton for Touchdown Atlantic between the Argos and Alouettes on August 25. I’ll be hosting the CFLAA golf tournament on the Friday featuring Randy Ambrosie, CFL Hall of Famers Damon Allen and Miles Gorrell and more!

6 – ANCHORS AWAY: There are still skeptics that this Schooners experiment will ever get off the ground due to the lack of a new stadium, and interest, in Halifax. However since this has been a chicken/egg scenario for over 30 years around the team and stadium, at least the Leblanc/Drummond/Bowser group has the cajones to forge ahead by putting the team in Moncton to begin play in 2021. That should ignite the people of the region to the fabulous CFL product, and hopefully have them vote pro-stadium at the polls when it’s time.

7 – WEEK 6: A lot will be determined this week in the CFL as we hit the 1/3 mark of the 2019 season. Some of the games will expose the contenders and the pretenders including the match-ups of Ottawa/Winnipeg, Edmonton/Montreal, BC/Saskatchewan. The other game of the week – Toronto/Calgary – could get ugly fast.

8 – “LIKE” THE RP SHOW: Please do us a favour and “Like” our Facebook page at The Rod Pedersen Show if you’re enjoying the program! Our guests this week include John Chick, Stevie Baggs, Kenton Keith,  Tori Gurley, Pat Fiacco, Braeden Moskowy, TSN’s Darren Dreger and Dustin Nielsen, and many more. You can watch live daily from 10-Noon MT on Facebook Live or listen live at www.rodpedersen.com/listenlive. Podcasts are available wherever you get your podcasts including iTunes, IHeartRadio and Spotify. Thanks!

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS 1: Given the details surrounding the dismissal of Kavis Reed in Montreal, you have to ask if he’ll ever work in the CFL again? My guess is that he will. … I’m SO pulling for Jonathon Jennings in his first start for Ottawa when the RedBlacks visit Winnipeg on Friday. Love that kid. … Winnipeg and BC coaches Mike O’Shea and DeVone Claybrooks are being criticized for the way they dress and/or wear their hat. Does it actually matter? No. … Don’t look now but the way Montreal is playing, there might not be a crossover playoff berth available in the CFL this fall. That means 2 teams in the West could miss the playoffs for the first time in years. … To clarify my comment on only one thing can stop the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and that’s themselves, that “one thing” is over-confidence.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS 2: Quote from comedian Tracy Morgan – “Either you’re good or you’re bad. You can’t be both at the same time”. I’ve been both. The former is far better. … The Regina Red Sox were rained out Tuesday evening so they’ll play a double-header Wednesday at Currie Field beginning at 6:00 pm. … I love that in Saskatchewan you don’t need a weather app to tell you a storm is coming. You can smell it. … Looking for something to do on Thursday? The Saskatchewan Rattlers are home to the Guelph Nighthawks at SaskTel Centre. It’s time you checked them out. The CEBL is being run by a bunch of former CFL guys (Mike Morreale, Lee Genier, Curt Emerson, etc.) and the league is here to stay. In fact, there’s some exciting ownership news coming down the pipe. … I miss WHL and SJHL hockey. But July is their only true month off. We have to let them enjoy it!

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen