10 THINGS FOR REALTY ONE & TITAN AUTO

1 – PREDICTIONS: CFL Division Semifinal weekend is upon us. Edmonton is at Montreal in the crossover on Sunday followed by Winnipeg at Calgary. I’ve already chosen Montreal and Winnipeg to advance and I’ll stick with those picks, although I’m waffling a bit on the Bombers due to a disturbing narrative coming out of the Manitoba capital. More on that in a minute. But for the biggies, I’ve got Saskatchewan meeting Hamilton in the 107th Grey Cup in Calgary, with the Roughriders winning. Book it.

2 – SATURDAY PLAYOFFS: Not sure where or why the notion came up of the CFL moving its playoff games to Saturdays but I’d suggest it’s worth a discussion. The last time they tried it was in 2008 (BC routed the Riders 33-12 at Taylor Field in the WSF in a game where Rider QB Michael Bishop heaved 4 picks in the 1st quarter. Bishop was cut by Ken Miller the next day). Canadians really seem to be liking the move to Saturday tripleheaders. Are the TV ratings indicative of this? It seems the ratings are not as publicized as they used to be.

3 – BIG HARRIE DEAL: This is what bugs me with Winnipeg right now. Alex Rodriquez was a 14-time MLB Allstar but after his suspension for steroid use in 2014, he never got ONE Allstar nod for the rest of his career. Nor did he win a Gold Glove or Silver Slugger after that. EVER! He carries that scarlet letter to this day. The Bombers are running around pointing the finger at the media and the CFL when the simple fact is their player Andrew Harris is the one in the wrong for being caught using steroids. Do you really think the CFL would’ve suspended one of their top stars if they weren’t certain he was guilty? C’mon. Own it.

4 – FOCUS: Because of this, and a few other narratives, I’m wary of picking the Bombers to go into Calgary and win despite the fact Winnipeg QB Zach Collaros seems to have the Stamps’ number. I’d be a whole lot more comfortable if the Bombers were saying, “Screw these Awards and Allstar votes! We’re going out to win a Grey Cup!” Maybe they’re saying it behind closed doors, but I’m not hearing it publicly. They seem distracted.

5 – TRIVIA: Can you name the 4 members of the current Roughriders who were on the 2013 Grey Cup champion team? Answers at the bottom.

6 – LION DOWN: I think many of us were surprised when the B.C. Lions tied a can to rookie head coach Devone Claybrooks this week. There has to be way more than meets the eye there. Yes, Claybrooks painted a target on his own back by hiring a wet-behind-the-ears coaching staff who would finish 5-13. But the whole outfit seemed dysfunctional with their salary cap sent out of whack by Mike Reilly’s $700,000+ contract. Whomever the next coach is will have to eat that elephant too. And Lions owner David Braley – who’s reportedly become notoriously frugal – can’t be pleased with paying Claybrooks out on his contract. It appears Hervey created a real mess at BC Place. Have I misread that?

7 – COACHES: Ottawa and BC are looking for head coaches and Corey Chamblin is perilously perched atop the Toronto Argonauts coaching flow chart, with his status “TBD”. Talk about making a guy twist in the wind! All of his assistant coaches are twisting right along with him. The buzz, I’ve heard, in the coaching world is that the Argos “just aren’t very good” and Chamblin was set up to fail right from the get-go. Meanwhile the Wally Buono camp tells me the CFL’s all-time winningest coach isn’t interested in returning to the sidelines in BC, nor anywhere else.

8 – SHIPS AHOY: We’re starting to hear some rumblings out of Halifax. The pro-Schooners crowd is on pins and needles because they’ll know in about a month whether the stadium project moves ahead. It sounds very frustrating for them. Two Halifax City Councillors are staunchly against the new stadium, and wouldn’t be convinced otherwise no matter how hard you tried. Meanwhile Regina politicians involved with the building of Mosaic Stadium tell me if there are only two dissenters in Halifax, that wouldn’t be enough to block the project. At least we’ll know soon.

9 – MACK-A-DOOOO: Cody Fajardo led the CFL in passing with 4,302 yards and is the first Rider QB to do that since Darian Durant in 2010. Before that, Kent Austin was the last one to do it in 1992. Where are all the Offensive Coordinator Stephen McAdoo haters? The phrase remains: players win and coaches lose.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: The 4 Riders from the 2013 Grey Cup team: Sam Hurl, Zack Evans, Brendon Labatte and Dan Clark … Thanks to Suds Car Wash and Bennett Dunlop Ford for offering deals/discounts to Canadian War Veterans this week … The Remembrance Day service goes at 10:30 am on Monday at the Brandt Centre … Apple founder Steve Jobs owned 150 black turtlenecks and wore a different one each day in order to save time on making trivial decisions like what to wear on a daily basis. Chris Jones displays a similar kind of genius … Hats off to whomever on this year’s Grey Cup committee came up with the homerun idea to hold the first-ever Grey Cup rodeo on the Stampede Grounds, and have the 9 competitors in each event represent the 9 different CFL teams! That will be very cool to watch … If the Riders are in the 2019 Grey Cup in Calgary, The Rod Pedersen Show will be there … Speaking of the RP Show, we are pleased to welcome Grey Cup Playoffs analyst Shawn Lemon of the B.C. Lions to our coverage! He made his first appearance on Thursday and chose Winnipeg and Montreal to win this weekend … A comment from a Texan this week as we were visiting at a Premium Outlet location in San Marcos, “When Corporate America decides to stop subsidizing pro sports teams, IT’S OVER.” Mull that one over.

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen