FRIDAY COMMENTARY – NEVER SURRENDER
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98 & Rock 98.5 FM)
WHAT A SPECTACLE IT WAS ON THURSDAY NIGHT.
THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE IS HOLDING ITS ENTRY DRAFT IN LAS VEGAS, AND IT OPENED THURSDAY NIGHT WITH ROUND 1.
DID YOU SEE IT? AN ESTIMATED 100,000 FOOTBALL FANS CRAMMED THE STRIP TO CELEBRATE WITH THE NFL AS COMMISSIONER ROGER GOODELL ANNOUNCED THE PICKS ONE-BY-ONE.
IF YOU’RE A VEGAS VET, YOU’LL KNOW THE SPECIFIC AREA THEY’RE USING IS RIGHT AROUND THAT CIRQUE WHEEL ABOUT MIDWAY DOWN THE STRIP.
IT LOOKED AWESOME ON TV. UNFORTUNATELY THE DRAFT WASN’T NEARLY AS EXCITING AS WATCHING THE FANS WHO’D FLOWN IN FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
THE SCOUTS SAY THIS IS THE WEAKEST DRAFT IN AT LEAST A DECADE AND THERE WASN’T A QUARTERBACK TAKEN UNTIL THE 20TH PICK WHEN THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS TOOK HOMETOWN BOY KENNY PICKETT.
HONESTLY, HE’S THE ONLY NAME I KNEW. BEFORE LONG I GOT BORED OF THE WHOLE THING AND SWITCHED OVER TO THE OILER GAME AND THAT TURNED OUT TO BE A GREAT IDEA.
BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT I CAN REMEMBER, I DIDN’T SEE ANY BUZZ ON SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUT HOW THE CFL SHOULD TRY TO GLITZ UP THEIR DRAFT NFL-STYLE. IT SEEMS THAT SHIP HAS SAILED.
THE YOUNGSTERS SHOULD KNOW THAT THERE WAS A TIME THAT THE CFL PAID HIGHER WAGES THAN THE NFL AND EVEN NOT THAT LONG AGO THE CFL CLOBBERED THE NFL IN RATINGS IN THIS COUNTRY.
THAT SHIP’S SAILED TOO.
IT WOULD MAKE A GREAT BOOK IF SOMEONE WANTED TO DETAIL HOW THAT HAPPENED. TO SUM IT UP IN A SENTENCE, I’D SUGGEST IT WAS MARKETING AND AIRING THE GAMES ON MULTIPLE TV NETWORKS.
BUT ALL IS NOT LOST.
WE’RE NOW 17 DAYS AWAY FROM CFL TRAINING CAMPS AND THE DRAFT GOES NEXT WEEK WITH COVERAGE ON TSN. I’M QUITE EXCITED FOR THAT, AND THE NEW CFL SEASON. WE’LL BE PROVIDING PLENTY OF COVERAGE OF THE CFL HERE, AND ON THE ROD PEDERSEN SHOW ON GAME+ TV. THERE’S STILL A BIG APPETITE FOR IT.
KEEPING THE CFL RELEVANT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE NFL IN CANADA IS SIMILAR TO WHAT MY LAW ENFORCEMENT FRIENDS SAY ABOUT THE WAR ON DRUGS.
IT’S LIKE HOLDING A THIMBLE UP TO TRY AND STOP THE FLOW OF NIAGARA FALLS.
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE. BUT THE DAY YOU GIVE UP, THAT’S THE DAY YOU TRULY LOSE THE WAR.
THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV across Canada and the USA. Call your cable provider for details. You can also watch on YouTube Live or listen 24/7 at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive)
If anyone follows Power 5 football conferences. Kenny Pickett the QB from Pitt. Any other school that guy is #1 overall. He slid down the scale due to hand size and the Steelers set themselves up for the next 10 years at QB. Aiden Hutchison of Michigan manhandled Ohio St, and the Lions actually have a player now to anchor the defense. Past that it’s all a crap shoot. The “war on drugs”, should be switched to a war on “trauma”, as that’s why the folks are gobbling the pills or snorting Peruvian nose candy lines. To these people what’s… Read more »
A friend mine told me the CFL lost a generation up there. They haven’t down here though. The game is still played with passion in Canada.
Marketing, airing games on multiple networks, I would like to add Fantasy football, gambling, I swear people don’t have an allegiance to an NFL team, but for players who can rush for 100 yards and pass for over 300 yards in a game, but its brought eyes to the product. Podcasts promoting their history, NFL network with 365 NFL coverage, a radio station on satellite radio dedicated to the NFL not to mention numerous other sports channels where a large portion of their product is NFL coverage. NFL marketing its players (as i said earlier people seem like they follow… Read more »