WEDNESDAY COMMENTARY – PUT EM IN
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98 & Rock 98.5 FM)
IT IS, I THINK, MY FAVOURITE DEBATE.
HALLS OF FAME.
SOME GUYS GET REAL EXCITED ABOUT THE DRAFT BUT I REALLY COULDN’T CARE LESS ABOUT ANY DRAFTS. IN ANY LEAGUES AT ANY LEVEL.
THE NUMBERS SHOW AROUND HALF OF THE PLAYERS PICKED NEVER END UP PLAYING A GAME.
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO WHO SHOULD GET INTO A PARTICULAR HALL OF FAME OR NOT, I CAN DEBATE IT ALLLLLLLLL DAY.
SO THE CFL ANNOUNCED ITS 2022 HALL OF FAME CLASS ON TUESDAY. (I KNOW. THEY JUST INDUCTED TWO CLASSES ON THE WEEKEND IN HAMILTON. DON’T ASK).
REGARDLESS, AMONG THE LATEST CLASS TO BE INDUCTED THIS SEPTEMBER ARE FORMER ROUGHRIDERS ROY SHIVERS AND PAUL MCCALLUM.
MAN OH MAN. THE STORIES CAME FLOODING BACK AND IT’S A REMINDER THAT I SHOULD GET WORKING AGAIN ON WRITING MY MEMOIRS. THE TROUBLE IS WHEN I LEFT THE RIDERS, IT WAS ONLY HALFTIME OF MY LIFE.
ANYWAY, IT SAYS HERE IF ROY SHIVERS AND PAUL MCCALLUM ARE GOING INTO THE CANADIAN FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME, THEY DARN SURE SHOULD BE A SLAM DUNK FOR THE RIDERS PLAZA OF HONOUR.
I MEAN, THINK ABOUT IT. IN FACT IT’S A BIT OF A HEAD-SCRATCHER WHY THEY’RE NOT.
ROY TOOK THE JOB AS G.M. OF THE ROUGHRIDERS ON CHRISTMAS EVE OF 1999 WHEN NO ONE ELSE – AND I MEAN NO ONE – WANTED IT. WITHIN JUST A FEW YEARS, HE TURNED THE RIDERS INTO A CONTENDER AND MADE THEM COOL AGAIN.
SURE HE LEFT THE RIDERS ON BAD TERMS. WHO DOESN’T?
BUT HE’S GETTING INTO THE CFL HALL DUE TO BEING THE FIRST BLACK GENERAL MANAGER IN PRO FOOTBALL HISTORY. I DON’T NEED TO SAY MORE.
PUT HIM IN.
AS FOR MCCALLUM, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CHECK THE RECORD BOOKS. HE’S #2 TO DAVE RIDGWAY IN PRETTY MUCH EVERY KICKING STATISTIC AND SET THE PRO FOOTBALL RECORD FOR THE LONGEST FIELD GOAL IN HISTORY – 62 YARDS – AT TAYLOR FIELD. I CALLED IT, AND IT WAS QUITE A DAY.
THERE’S PLENTY OF GUYS IN THE PLAZA WHO’VE DONE FAR LESS THAN PAUL. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE FOR “CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE RIDERS”, THE LAST I CHECKED.
YES, HE’S FAMOUS FOR THE “INFAMOUS” MISS IN 2004 BUT THE HALL OF FAME NOD THIS WEEK TELLS YOU PAUL’S OVERALL CAREER IS HIS LEGACY.
IF YOU DEFINE PEOPLE BY THEIR WORST MOMENTS RATHER THAN THEIR BEST, THEN YOU’RE THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM.
THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET and 1o pm MT on Game+ TV. Call your cable provider for details. You can also watch on YouTube Live or listen 24/7 at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive)
Why would Paul want to be on Wall of Fame when the teams so called fans DUMPEd Manure on his driveway. WHY!!!!
My opinion, – so he can pull a Waylon Jennings and not show up and tell them to stuff it. Hank Jr should have been in the Country Hall of Fame 30 years ago. They put him in and he told them off without actually telling them off. It meant more to his family than it did to him. Same deal he said he’ll never be an Opry Member period and could careless. Pete Rose same deal. If they need to sell some tickets they drag him out. Harold Baines can call himself a Hall of Famer – Pete can… Read more »
You know who else is not in? Richie Hall, Phil Kershaw and You. Richie Hall was instrumental in 3 of the 4 Grey Cups. Not in the Plaza Phil Kershaw dared to dream of hosting Grey Cups and was an Executive on two CFL franchises. We hosted in 1995, 2013 and 2022. This doesn’t happen without Phil. You – 20 years of excellence and setting a standard so high that the job no basically is scraping the bottom of the barrel on a dating app to find companionship. I asked why? I was told, “If media members are put in… Read more »
Sincere congratulations to Mr. Roy Shivers and Mr. Paul McCallum on a deserved well earned Induction to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Your contributions to the game, much appreciated. Thank you Mr. Shivers, Mr. McCallum.