OUT OF THE TUNNEL: GREY CUP UNITE WEEK

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

This would have been the beginning of the most important (and incredibly fun) week on the CFL calendar. Grey Cup Week was teed up to be extra special for the Province of Saskatchewan this year, as it was the fourth time they were able to host this grand event leading up to the biggest game of the season.

Just add it to another thing that has been taken away from us because of this pandemic (wear a mask and wash your damn hands!).

Now as positive COVID-19 test results continue to rise, many (including yours truly) are being sent home again to look out the window at the miserable weather yearning for better times, only this time the days are darker, for longer.

Faithful readers of Out of the Tunnel know we’ve been critical of how the league has been handling things and are not super keen on how the league will slowly crawl back onto the field next season. Saying that, we are a big fan of what the league has in store this week with Grey Cup Unite.

This week is jammed with both league and individual team oriented events. All it takes is a couple of key strokes to register for any of the events or to watch. Some of the highlights for us are:

– Day One watching the dichotomy between the State of the League address by CFL commissioner Randy Ambrose and then the CFLPA State of the League address. Considering how these two have battled the past eight months, it should be interesting.

– Day Two is all about the individual teams. Head to your team’s website for what they have in store.

– Day Three and suddenly we wish we spoke french. RDS has a documentary about the 1977 Grey Cup which is better known as the Ice Bowl. It’s all about a skating rink for a field, staples in shoes and a Montreal rout over Edmonton which was all played out in front of a Grey Cup record crowd at Olympic Stadium.

– Day Four is incredible. Again, pick your team and there is a great event but as for a league-wide initiative, the CFL will name it’s all-decade team.

– Day Five hits and plan to start your Friday off on the right foot and crack open your drink of choice and join fans across the country for a virtual tailgate. Now knowing how some video gatherings go it might be enjoyable chaos.

– The CFLSim virtual Grey Cup between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa Redblacks will be played out on Saturday to wind down the week. You can view the game at www.GreyCupUnite.ca or watch on The Rod Pedersen Show Facebook Live channel.

– Sunday will see five different Grey Cup game streams, just pick which game you want to watch.

Yes, it’s nowhere near what we wanted for a Grey Cup week but even when the game and fans return to stadiums across the country, the league should keep doing this to include all of Canada in Grey Cup week.

Back To Reality

Now back to reality and how the pandemic has football teetering on the edge of a quick ending in college and how the NFL has been somewhat diligent in preventing a collapse.

When the NFL started, many thought that it would be almost impossible to complete a season but as the league passed the half-way pole it’s shaping into something positive.

The usually caustic New York Times had a great article (apologies if the paywall stops you) on how well the league has handled things on a football operation. As of last week only 218 of 8,000 players, coaches and personnel have tested positive and with just one person being hospitalized.

One of the things the NFL had to their advantage was watching the mistakes Major League Baseball made while travelling from city-to-city. The biggest advantage the NFL has is they are basically a travelling bubble that fly into a city the night before the game and then leave right after the game. Sure some players will want to go out before a game night but most won’t.

Thus the players have been going from their families to the football facility and then back. Yes games have been postponed and there have been some scary times but with the amount of money involved, everyone has been on point with their contacts during the season.

Now with the playoffs quickly coming upon us, and cases beginning to skyrocket, it will be interesting if the NFL will create a playoff bubble of four teams for the conference championships and Super Bowl to make sure the three biggest games on the North American sports calendar happen on time.

As for how some teams are allowed so many fans in the stands, this is stupid. It’s a TV league and there is no need to have anyone in the seats, especially now as almost every state is facing an explosion of positive cases.

The NCAA is in a worse state of affairs. To keep 100 college-aged men away from all of the fun of college life is impossible. They mix with so many people on college campuses across the United States that holding down massive spreads of COVID-19 is difficult. Also, remember when you were 18-22-years-old, there were times where bad choices felt like the right thing to do. Now some of those choices have a bigger impact on the individual and those around them.

Because of this the past week saw 16 games either postponed or outright cancelled. Things are getting so bad that there are talks about not having a college football playoff.

The next couple of weeks are crucial for the NCAA to see if they are able to complete the 2020 football season. The drama off the field will be just as important as the drama on it.

Canadian to Watch in the NCAA

Akheem Mesidor (Fr.)
Defensive end – West Virginia
6’2” 268
Ottawa, Ontario
High school – Clearwater Academy (Florida)

Akheem Mesidor is a true freshman defensive end for the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Big 12 and he has made a big impact at such a young age. Mesidor has been in the main defensive line rotation since day one of the 2020 season. In the season opener against Eastern Kentucky, he picked up a sack and two tackles and Mesidor continued to improve from there.

In eight games this season, Mesidor leads WVU in sacks with five including one in a win over TCU this past Saturday. Mesidor has also added 23 tackles in an incredible freshman season.

Mesidor played his final high school season with Clearwater Academy in Florida, before that he went to school at Royal Imperial Collegiate in St. Catharines, Ontario.

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF/PHOTO: JAVA POST)