Commentary: The Good, The Great & The Ugly

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

First the good: It’s this generation’s “Sid versus Ovie”. Last night the Chicago Blackhawks spanked the San Jose Sharks 6-3 in the United Centre in the latest battle of “Celebrini vs Bedard”.

Of course I checked the scoresheet; Celebrini had a goal and an assist for San Jose while Bedard had one point for Chicago, but his team won.

This is going to be a fun thing to watch for years, and it doesn’t hurt they were childhood rivals in the Vancouver area.

I’m always on the hunt for storylines.

Next the great: Speaking of, the buzz in the press box at Sunday’s NHL outdoor game in Tampa Bay – which the NHL world is still talking about – was of Super Bowl 60, of course. (We were in a football stadium after all).

Somebody said it’s a boring match-up and that these are the “same old Patriots”. I disagree. Belichick and Brady are long gone and that’s just one of a host of juicy storylines going into Sunday’s NFL championship.

New England’s Mike Vrabel looking to become the first man in the Super Bowl era to win a title as a player, and coach, with the same franchise is top of my list.

But the game should be sponsored by Old Dutch or Frito Lay because there’s a whole lotta guys on the Seattle sideline with chips on their shoulders. Guys who were deemed expendable in their last stops are plentiful, like Sam Darnold (Minnesota), Demarcus Lawrence (Dallas) and Cooper Kupp (L.A. Rams) to name a few.

It’s gonna be great!

And finally the ugly: Rider fans are bemoaning the fact their team is being raided in free agency when they expected Saskatchewan would actually be the team doing the raiding.

Newsflash: when you win a championship, teams pick apart your roster and coaching staff. We haven’t won a lot of ‘em in Saskatchewan so this concept is new but with one year contracts, it’s happening quicker.

Call it, the price of success.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

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