TUESDAY COMMENTARY – A FRIENDLY PLACE TO PLAY

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)

It’s Tuesday and that means it’s time for the Good, the Great & the Ugly!

First the good: Every league needs good stories and the one emerging in the nation’s capital is as good as we’ve seen in a long while in the CFL.

Left for dead, the Ottawa RedBlacks were down to their fourth string rookie quarterback a couple weeks ago going up against perennial powerhouses Winnipeg & Calgary. But wouldn’t you know it, that rookie – Dustin Crum – led Ottawa to a pair of miraculous overtime victories to save football on Parliament Hill.

It’s got us pundits scrambling to find out more about Crum, a standout at Kent State in the MAC, and comparing him to other upstarts over the years in the CFL like Bo Levi, or maybe Jeff Garcia or even Zach Collaros.

But that brought me back to earth to realize that his start is good, but we need to see much more.

Next the great: It came across my timeline that SIGA (Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority) posted nearly $300-million in revenue last year which represents an over 49% increase, and set a new record. Bravo!

There are several reasons for that but one of those is launching the sports gaming website PlayNow.com, which generously sponsors the RP Show and this website.

So it’s great to be a small part of such a success story. Again, well done!

And lastly the ugly: This is all about perspective but it’s hit the news that Saudi soccer team Al Hilal is willing to pay star player Kylian Mbappe $776-million for just one season next year if his current club – Paris Saint Germain – accepts the transfer fee and he switches teams.

Three quarters of a billion dollars to play a sport for one season.

That may not be ugly exactly, but it’s somethin’.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)