FRIDAY SHOW RECAP – MADANI: “REST FAJARDO!”

Friday’s show was Episode #107 of The Rod Pedersen Show. Here are the highlights!

• Rod, Dupes and John Frenzy opened the show with The Rollout for Flooring Superstore as they got Football Friday rolling with a preview of the CFL’s Week 21 games. News came down during this segment that Cody Fajardo is listed as the #1 QB for Saturday’s must-win home game against the Edmonton Eskimos. Sportsnet’s Arash Madani joined the show via video chat from Toronto and said the Riders should sit Fajardo down for this game, making sure he’s as close to 100% as possible for the playoffs. This drew the ire of many Rider fan viewers who questioned if Arash knew what was at stake in this game (the Riders need a win to clinch 1st place)? Madani said he certainly does know what’s at stake, but still feels the team shouldn’t risk any further injury to their Most Outstanding Player.
• The CFL on TSN’s Dustin Nielsen joined the bunker for the rest of the program and offered his take on Fajardo. Dustin will call Saturday’s game on TSN. He asked the panel just why Fajardo is so wildly popular in just his first season as starting QB in Saskatchewan. John Frenzy explained why Fajardo could be even more popular than franchise icon Ron Lancaster.
• Frenzy also explained why he fears the entire Rider season will go up in smoke if the Fajardo injury is serious.
• It was a full-on CFL show with the panel debating all the league’s top issues including Coach of the Year front-runners, Grey Cup contenders, the future of Jason Maas in Edmonton, rumours of BC head coach Devone Claybrooks being fired and the dumpster fire season the Ottawa RedBlacks have endured.
• Dustin also offered a preview of Saturday’s Canada West semifinal games – Manitoba at Calgary followed by Alberta at Saskatchewan.
• Edmonton sportscaster Bryn Griffiths joined the show via video chat from the City of Champions and said nothing less than a Grey Cup appearance by the Eskimos should save Maas’s job. With everyone on the panel being Oilers fans (Bryn, Dustin, Lynch and Rod), they all agreed that a playoff berth by the Oilers will be satisfactory this season.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Can the Riders win a Grey Cup without Cody Fajardo? Over 80% of respondents said no.
• In honour of show #107 the guys debated sports figures who’ve worn number-7 and the group included Paul Coffey, Cody Fajardo, Weston Dressler, Richie Hall, Jordan Eberle and Christiano Rinaldo.
• See you at 10 am MT on Monday on Facebook Live and RodPedersen.com/ListenLive as we’ll recap another busy sports weekend!