10 Monday Things For Suds Car Wash
Photo: Cats N Bolts Podcast
Truth & Rumours For Suds …
1 – BATTLE OF FLORIDA: All of the NHL is talking about it. Saturday night’s Lightning-Panthers preseason finale in Sunrise, FL ended up as a 7-0 Florida rout and, depending who you talk to, had 314 penalty minutes, or 284, or an entirely different total. They lost count! And it wasn’t paddycake stuff. No, it was mean, dirty sh*t. Old time hockey.
We also saw something none of us had ever seen before — Panthers defenceman Niko Mikkola was to have been kicked out in the third period with a game misconduct. However he stayed in the game and assisted on the 8-0 goal (which was later taken off the board). They showed Paul Maurice and Jon Cooper on a split screen on the TV broadcast and I leaned over and asked the guy beside me in the press box what they must be thinking? “On the surface, not pleased,” he advised. “Deep down, loving it.”
17,862 were on hand at Amerant Bank Arena and left smiling ear-to-ear. That includes me, and my neighbour Fish who’d been begging me to take him to his first-ever hockey game. What a first game to witness! The season opens Tuesday with Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks in town.
2 – BARE KNUCKLE ICE WARS: Yorkton’s Reid “The Spaz” Krasowski is appearing in hockey’s version of ultimate fighting Friday night at Amerant Bank Arena, lining up against a veteran MMA fighter named Charles Rosa. Reid was on the RP Show recently and he’s a guy who’s played Junior B hockey, and Senior, and fights. His opponent in the co-Main Event is an MMA fighter who skates. Big difference! I’ve been helping Reid with a few things in anticipation of Friday’s showdown, including finding him a veteran cornerman from the area and am excited to be in attendance this weekend. If you can’t be here, look it up and watch online!
3 – THE BIG STORY: So it appears Shatkins knows what they’re doing! The Blue Jays are a game away from sweeping the New York Yankees in the Best-of-5 ALDS after a pair of blowout wins (13-7 & 10-1) on the weekend at Rogers Centre. Vladdy earned his payday, and going with the youngster Trey Yesavage on the mound on Sunday paid off. The majority of us wondered who this guy was when they called him up late in the season against Tampa Bay. All of a sudden he’s a household name! Tuesday’s pitching match-up in the potential clincher is Shane Bieber versus Carlos Rodon. If Bieber notches the win, that’ll be another astute move by GM Ross Atkins. Can’t hear the haters atm …
4 – RIDERS: It still echoes in my mind regularly; legendary Regina sports scribe Bob Hughes describing Rider fans when I asked him to describe them. “Oh they’re nuts,” Hughes said drolly. Ya sorry, but the truth hurts. Saskatchewan beat Ottawa 20-13 on Friday to improve to 11-4 and knock the hometown RedBlacks out of playoff contention. Yet the amount of whining and complaining from the Rider Nation afterwards has been almost intolerable. Who cares that they barely won?? This isn’t College Football where dominant wins move you up the rankings! Don’t forget Ottawa had a helluva lot to play for too, so Saskatchewan did enough to win. That’s all that counts. As for the kicking situation, you win as a team and you lose as a team. As far as I’m concerned, head coach Corey Mace has handled the struggles of veteran Brett Lauther perfectly. I’d dearly love to know what’s wrong with Lauther, or the snap-hold-kick unit, because something’s definitely off. But I’m not so invasive as to ask. However I’d have brought in a vet – there are plenty on the street – rather than a rookie who’d never appeared in a game before.
5 – THE REST: TSN’s Jim Barker says the BC Lions are the CFL’s #1 team and if you recall, he picked a BC-Hamilton Grey Cup. I picked Toronto-Winnipeg but the Argonauts have been eliminated and the Bombers are hanging by a threat (it seems). Hey, the football people are better analysts than the pundits. No argument there. … BC’s won four in a row, and six of eight, following Saturday’s 38-24 dismantling of Calgary, and now the Stampeders have lost four in a row. … Hamilton clubbed Toronto 47-29 before a BMO Field crowd which included Doug Flutie, and the Ticats moved a step closer to locking up first-place in the CFL East. Tabbies QB Bo Levi Mitchell referred to last week’s 40-3 loss at Winnipeg as a wakeup call. See what I was referring to in Point 3? … In the upcoming Week 19 it’s Toronto at Saskatchewan, Calgary at Hamilton, Winnipeg at Edmonton and Ottawa at Montreal.
6 – MLSE: As per usual Tampa Bay Lightning TV voice Dave Randorf and I convened in the press box Saturday night to go over the latest in the CFL. Dave’s a fan of CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston – his longtime boss at TSN – and, like me, a fan of the CFL “changes”. A 30-year Florida NHL crew member was privy to our chat and asked why Canadians are so anti-American, anti-expansion, anti-change and anti-progress? Rambo and I both shrugged and said, “That’s just the way it is.” … But to expand on this *CFL change* discussion which I’ve been leading the way on the past couple of weeks, my sources tell me that MLSE and Commissioner Johnston are lockstep in this movement and if it doesn’t turn into a significant moneymaker down the road, MLSE will walk away from the CFL. THAT DOESN’T MEAN THE ARGOS WILL GO ANYWHERE! It just means the team will be put up for sale, and MLSE will be out. They want to make money, yet for ages the rest of the CFL teams haven’t been interested in that (clearly). So you part ways …
7 – COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Nick Saban telling UNC coach Bill Belichick that he’s “full of shit” on the ESPN College Game Day pregame show on Saturday was the reason I got out of bed. … The Tar Heels got rolled 38-10 by Clemson to fall to 2-3. Belichick said the coaching isn’t much different between the NFL and NCAA, but the recruiting is overwhelming. Yet, it sounds like he’s in it for the longhaul. … Miami proved they’re the best team in Florida, beating Florida State 28-22 to go to 5-0 while the Noles dropped to 3-2. There are five all-sports radio stations in South Florida and EVERY ONE is talking about the Hurricanes daily, not the NFL’s Dolphins. … Big upset for the Florida Gators, 29-21 over Steve Sarkisian and Arch Manning’s Texas Longhorns, who fell to 3-2. This week’s rankings will be SPICY. … After missing the Playoff last year, Alabama is 4-1 after a 30-14 win over Vanderbilt (5-1) and the Crimson Tide now have the inside track to a Top 4 ranking and a first round bye! … It’s been a wild season.
8 – WHEAT BOWL: It sure seems like Saskatchewan and Regina are on a collision course for another Hardy Cup appearance. The Rams beat Calgary 18-12 on Saturday while the Huskies got past Alberta 31-24. That moved both teams’ records to 5-1. The 60th Vanier Cup of course, will be played on November 22 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina for the first time ever. Wouldn’t it be great to see the Huskies or Rams in it???? … Can’t believe people actually think I’m not following this stuff.
9 – NFL WEEK 5: The matchups weren’t sexy, but the comebacks were. The Tennessee Titans overcame an 18-point deficit to defeat Arizona, 22-21, the Carolina Panthers overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat Miami, 27-24, the Denver Broncos overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat Philadelphia, 21-17, the New Orleans Saints overcame an 11-point deficit to defeat the New York Giants, 26-14 and the Washington Commanders overcame a 10-point deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers, 27-10. This marks the first week since Week 7, 2024 to feature five comebacks of at least 10 points and the first since Week 1, 2024 to feature three comebacks of at least 14 points. … Will we see another before the week closes? Kansas City visits Jacksonville on Monday Night Football.
10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: After one week of the RP Show airing daily in Las Vegas on the Silver State Sports & Entertainment Network, the reviews from the TV station executives are that the show is being “well-received” by Nevada viewers. I’ll never know why, but thank God! He is great. … I had a dream this week that Tom Brady came out of retirement to QB the Las Vegas Raiders. … What is a Bad Bunny? … Does McDonald’s not serve pies anymore?? … They now make soap that tastes great. Swear away kids! … Women: do you like this trend of moustaches? … I’m officially, “The players look so young” years old. … Spitz are by far the most remarkable sunflower seed. Can’t even tell you #2. … A bear surprised shoppers at an Oro Valley, AZ grocery store this week when it walked through the front door and ran around inside for a few minutes before exiting the building. Right before entering the store, the animal bumped up against the automatic doors and managed to eventually walk in, said Darren Wright, a spokesperson for the Oro Valley Police Department. “It just ran around,” Wright said. “I don’t think it did any damage.” The animal was seen at some point in the store’s produce section but isn’t believed to have taken anything. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?
Y’er welcome,
RP
Item 6 – Anti American sentiment in Canada I don’t know Rod, but when the leader of the most powerful country in the world muses about annexing your country in front of their entire military leadership you’d kinda expect us to get our back up. I’m liking the rule changes, but can we keep the 55 yard line? But that coaches cap HAS GOT TO GO!!! Yes sports are international but we are the only country that is inundated with a foreign country’s sports and culture 24/7/365 and it just seems that we (Canada) have to (or we choose to because… Read more »
So the CFL is making major changes that may alienate a huge chunk of their (already shaky) fan base in Toronto to appease MLSE? With MLSE already planning their exit if (when!) CFL football doesn’t make millions? Everyone in Canada hates Toronto & everyone in Toronto hates MLSE. The CFL has cast their lot in with the most hated (debate me) company/man in Canada that isn’t a politician. Thinking that CFL football is only a couple years away from major profits is plain foolish. Their TV contract ends next year and TSN/Bell isn’t going to pay top dollar to Rogers/MLSE… Read more »