10 Monday Things *Updated*
Truth & Rumours …
*BREAKING NEWS: R.I.P Loni Anderson. My first crush.*
1 – RIDERS A WAGON: Nearing the midway point of the 2025 Canadian Football League season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are clearly the league’s top team. They pulverized the Alouettes 34-6 in Montreal on Saturday to improve to 7-1, and cap Week 9. The list of what’s impressive about the Green & White is long but for me, it may be their 5-0 record in games decided in the final 3:00. That displays composure and grit. They’re also 4-0 on the road; the CFL’s lone unbeaten road team. They now have a bye in Week 10 before hosting the East Division-best Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, August 16 in Week 11. I don’t expect to hear any bitching in the Wheat Province between now and then. Ahhhh, silence.
2 – ELSEWHERE: The Calgary Stampeders have lost two in a row without the services of QB Vernon Adams Jr. and are no longer in the conversation for “CFL’s Top Team”. … Just when everyone was throwing dirt on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, they won a big one 40-31 over Toronto Friday night before a ninth consecutive sellout at Princess Auto Stadium. The Labour Day Classic is gonna be epic! Be sure to get your team in for our 3rd Annual Labour Day Golf Classic featuring 36 alumni from the Riders & Bombers. Harvard Broadcasting is our media partner. Once again, I’m the host. … The Edmonton Elks are a league-worst 1-6 but their crowds are getting better and the losses aren’t as lopsided. As rookie coach Mark Kilam stated on Saturday, they’re better but just aren’t there yet. … Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace is the Coach of the Year after being a finalist last season. … The Argos aren’t saying it, but former League M.V.P. QB Chad Kelly won’t play this year. … The CFL is a TREMENDOUS product this year!
3 – TOP VENUES: Rider road victories at Montreal are rare and that’s in part due to the hostile environment at Percival Molson Stadium at McGill. It got me to-thinking about the best game day atmospheres in the CFL and it’s shifted over the past few years. Here they are: 1) Winnipeg, 2) Saskatchewan, 3) Montreal, 4) Ottawa, 5) BC, 6) Hamilton, 7) Toronto, 8) Calgary, 9) Edmonton. Debate at will …
4 – HALL OF FAME: The NFL and Pro Football Hall of Fame does it right. On Saturday they held the annual PFHOF induction in Canton with Eric Allen, Jared Allen, Antonio Gates and Sterling Sharpe going in. Of course I watched it on NFL Network, because I always do. Those induction speeches are a How-To Guide for excelling in life and the NFL trots out the same hallowed thing every year on the first Saturday of August: on-field stage, assembled past inductees on-stage in their gold blazers, and a soldout crowd. Why re-invent the wheel or fix what isn’t broken? The CFL does itself a major disservice by changing up their format every year, and not televising it. “If you forget where you came from, you don’t remember where you’re going.” I heard that phrase twice this week. Speaking of …
5 – WESTERN CANADA PRO HOCKEY SCOUTING FOUNDATION: I’ve gotta send a note to Foundation co-founder Garth Malarchuk and tell him Tuesday’s 2nd Annual Wall of Honour induction in Okotoks, AB was in the top five events I’ve ever attended, and I’ve been to thousands. 30 pro & junior hockey scouts – including surprise inductee Duane Sutter – were enshrined, including my dad Jim Pedersen. What qualifies you for the Wall of Fame? 20-plus years scouting, says Malarchuk. “If you last that long,” Garth shared. “You must be good at it.”
Dennis Beyak did a bang-up job as MC, TSN’s Craig Button gave a nice speech, and the Hot Stove with six Sutter brothers was elite. “Our Mom’s 89 years old! How the frick isn’t she in the Hall of Fame?” questioned Darryl Sutter to a uproarious laughter. The mood was so warm and the vibe so welcoming that it got me thinking it’s time to get back into hockey full-time. And thanks, WCPHSF, for inviting me to represent my Dad and accept his Belt Buckle Award.
6 – SCOOTER: Less-heralded was the news 30-some season Portland Winterhawks Voice Dean “Scooter” Vrooman was named the Bob Ridley Golden Microphone Award winner for years of service in the WHL. Bob addressed the crowd and I got tingles listening to his legendary delivery. They don’t make ’em like that anymore! The lady I was sitting beside – Oilers scout Barry Fraser’s widow Tina – asked me who the Voice of the Tigers is now. I said, “I don’t know”. Meanwhile the Swift Current Broncos just announced an opening to be their new broadcaster. What a time in this industry …
7 – WCBL: Just two days remain the Western Canadian Baseball League season and we now know our Moose Jaw Miller Express will line up against the Saskatoon Berries in Round 1 beginning with Game 1 Wednesday in Toontown, and Game 2 on Thursday at Ross Wells Park in The Jaw. We beat ’em last year in the East Final! It’s gonna be more difficult this time around. … The Regina Red Sox will face the Medicine Hat Mavericks in the other semifinal on our side. … The Top 5 WCBL teams in attendance: 1) Okotoks, 2) Saskatoon, 3) Sylvan Lake, 4) Medicine Hat, 5) Regina. … One thing I love about baseball: no intermissions. … Saskatoon Berries play-by-play man Les Lazaruk sang Oh Canada at a game this week. No, I won’t be following suit. Nor driving the bus. Sorry Rids …
8 – SOTO SOARS: I’ve gotta make a point of mentioning Thomas Soto, the 2-time All Star shortstop of the Miller Express from Round Rock, TX. Whoever says God created us all equal never met Thomas Soto. On Thursday he was named the Fans Choice Most Popular Miller in an online vote. On Friday he set a WCBL record for most runs scored in a single season (70). On July 4, he played The Star Spangled Banner on his electric guitar for the crowd on his purple electric guitar. I’ve gotten real close with Thomas and his parents Sef & Brandi the past two seasons and it’s a reminder why I got into this God-forsaken business in the first place; to do the job, and for the people. … I respect these young men in the WCBL so much because while most guys their age are out goofing off for the summer, they’ve committed to something special and want to be great. SALUTE!
9 – THE POLISH PRINCE: On Thursday we honoured the life of longtime broadcaster Pete Paczko who passed away at age 60 following a five-year cancer battle. The guy was incredibly talented and his passion for local sports was unmatched. There’s something about seeing your decades-long friend in a vase that shakes you. Five days before that, 52-year old Deena Renwick was honoured at my hometown Milestone Memorial Centre after succumbing to a much more brief cancer battle. Her son Nolan was a Notre Dame Hound and currently stars with the NCAA’s Maine Black Bears. There’s a message in here and you don’t need to be too swift to pick it up. Life’s short.
10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: There is historic parity at the top of MLB. Entering August, the top 10 teams were separated by just 4.5 games. That’s the tightest race ever, and if the playoffs started today the Blue Jays would get a bye to the ALDS. … We’re not even out of training camp and the Dallas Cowboys have had a season-full of drama. A week after GM Jerry Jones answered questions about when he’ll be stepping down, the team’s best defensive player – OLB Micah Parsons – has demanded a trade. That’s due to dirty behind-the-scenes contract negotiations by Jones. I’m not giving up my Cowboys fandom, but I’m also not going to allow their toxicity to affect my mood. … Pretty sure I saw Gregg Popovich at the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa in Moose Jaw on Saturday. … Did you know a day pass is only $20? And if you book a massage, it includes use of all their facilities? How bout that. … Misery loves company. … If I was a cheese, I’d be Asiago. … What’s the longest Canadian city to drive through and why is it Medicine Hat? … Coincidences are synchronicity and simply a sign that you are on the right track, and aligned. … A truckload of hot dogs spilled across a Pennsylvania interstate Friday after a crash that briefly clogged the heavily traveled artery in both directions. Crews were stuck with a job they did not relish — rolling up the scattered tube steaks for disposal. State police said the tractor trailer had an unspecified mechanical problem on Interstate 83 a few miles north of the Maryland line as morning rush hour was wrapping up, causing it to push into a passenger vehicle. When the truck scraped along a concrete divider, its trailer was ripped open and the contents scattered. “I can tell you personally, hot dogs are very slippery,” said Shrewsbury, PA Fire Chief Brad Dauberman. “I did not know that.” … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?
Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen
@rodpedersen
I have never understood why the CFL does not have the Hall of Fame induction and their speeches.
Bo Levi passed….Doug Flutie in yardage. Granted different eras and rules. A youngin’ asked me; “who was Doug Flutie….and who is Ron Lancaster….”.
This generation……they are in trouble in so many ways.
This weekend of CFL football was off the rails incredible.
This Roughriders team is finding a way. Shades of 2007 which is high praise.
I asked Jim Hopson for a copy of his induction speech. He sent me a shaky cell phone video he got from his son.
….I was thinking of my very first awareness and engaged in CFL. 1983 Grey Cup. This guy Conridge Holloway…..people talk Warren Moon not getting a chance. There is a long list of guys who got opportunities up here and no speech to view on the audio/video world encyclopedia YouTube. The CFL and their lack of telling the story. Reminds me of the scene in Godfather II when Hyman Roth tells Michael Corleone about this “great man”. He had the vision to create a stop over for G.Is on their way to Los Angeles. There isn’t so much as a plaque… Read more »
CFL = Journeyman league.
NFL = Professional league.
Its quite obvious those at the top of all things CFL aren’t interested in running a highly efficient top to bottom league. Everyone it seems is just going through the motions of pretending they are big league. Everything behind the scenes is a mess from the on field officials to the TSN panel and a new commissioner absent. The CFL needs a total revamp to it’s image as it portrays a big time minor league.
Hey…..go tell Kyle Walters/Wade Miller/Mike O’Shea/Jeremy O’Day/Bob Dyce/Ed Hervey….especially Ed/Rick Campbell/Jason Maas and I could add some more referrals. The “Pro” you are? Tell those men how unprofessional they are…hopefully after Pinball Clemons prays over you and you live. About the time you come out of your coma, your jaw gets unwired, and they fit you for dentures….go back and do it again…. If I gave you a list of players to confront…yeah. The issue is production values. It looks like a 1980s pro-wrestling territory and requires an upgrade. I have done thousands upon thousands of interviews and I am… Read more »
Hey expert, they’re all plumbers masquerading as football executives. The only men who merit a mention as a true professional football executive is Ed Hervey/Hugh Campbell/Luke Wilson. For a so called expert you’re damn stupid while always ignorant with your off base comments on here.
Plumbers are not professional? You wouldn’t last a day in the trade let alone be able to quote a job and invoice it.
Luke Willson basically read this blog and ripped off my take of which I have been doing since 2007. He is a professional troll.
Thank you for checking back at what…..midnight?
The Truth Does Not Answer Questions
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Tyreek “Drew Drew” Hill a real pro.
Jerry Jones knew how to handle those pros in 1951 Arkansas and he handles them proper in 2025.
Pray for that man.