The Monday Morning Goalie For SUDS
Photo: Moose Jaw Miller Express
TRUTH & RUMOURS FOR SUDS CAR WASH
1 – CHEAP SEATS: It’s summer in Canada and there’s lots of great things going on. Out here in the West, Round 1 of the Western Canadian Baseball League playoffs is already complete. In Round 2, The Moose Jaw Miller Express will face the Saskatoon Berries in East Division Final beginning Tuesday at Ross Wells Park. The Okotoks Dawgs will face the Sylvan Lake Gulls in the West Division Final, with the winners of these series meeting for the WCBL championship. Moose Jaw’s been a freight train this year, winning a franchise record 41 games in the 56-game regular season and we swept Medicine Hat in Round 1. I’m so proud and excited for them! You can catch our broadcasts on Flo College Sports.
2 – CFL WEEK 10: Here are your scores … Toronto 33-Calgary 30, Saskatchewan 42-Ottawa 20, Montreal 48-Edmonton 30 and BC 27-Hamilton 24. … There were some lopsided games in there but overall the games were very good. In what was billed Canada’s Game of The Week by RP Show viewers, Montreal toyed with Edmonton on Saturday to improve to 8-1, and win their sixth straight game. “I think they sent a message to the league,” Elks QB Cody Fajardo said postgame. “We’re one of the top teams in this league and they beat us in all three phases. That’s a good football team. All three phases, they beat us up pretty good and we got to be better.” … People who troll me when Fajardo & Edmonton lose a game are a special kind of loser. I’m simply supporting a close friend with my “Death, Taxes, and …” line. Why does that trigger certain people so much? … The Riders played with their food against Ottawa on Friday and at times, looked bored. I can see a Saskatchewan-Montreal rematch in the Grey Cup in Calgary in November, which I don’t think would bother anybody. … It was nice to see BC win at home before a nice crowd and the Lions have rebounded with back-to-back wins, yet still are in the West Division basement at 3-5. The Sask-at-BC game on August 23 should be a big one, and I’ll be there. … Some had the Hamilton Tiger-Cats winning the East after finishing first in 2025, but they’re a dismal 3-6 and still can’t win without Bo Levi Mitchell. The drought goes on …
3 – WEEK 11: It feels like we got some doozies this week as BC (3-5) visits Calgary (4-5) to kick it off on Thursday Night Football. Stampeders QB Vernon Adams relishes beating the Lions every time they meet, after they vanquished him in favour of Nathan Rourke two seasons ago. Shoot! That’s Canada’s Game of The Week right there. … On Friday, Ottawa (0-8) visits Winnipeg (4-4). A visit from the toothless RedBlacks is the tonic the Blue Bombers need, as the Blue is 1-4 at Princess Uh-Oh Stadium. A U12 Flag Football team could beat Ottawa. … There’s another doubleheader on Saturday as Toronto (4-4) visits Edmonton (6-3) in a rematch of the 1996 Grey Cup and Saskatchewan (6-2) visits Hamilton (3-6) in a rematch of the 1972, 1989 and 2013 Grey Cups. … For those bitching about a lack of Sunday games, go for a walk. Or to a movie. … Nice to see CFL games on CTV on Saturday afternoons. Why wasn’t this happening for the past 20 years?
4 – CALL TO THE HALL: Kudos to longtime CFL media members Joanne Ireland (Edmonton Journal), Greg Peterson (CHRQ 770 Radio Calgary) and Dave “Moisty” Moir (CBC, TSN) for being named to the 2026 Canadian Football Hall of Fame media wing induction class for the Calgary Grey Cup! I had the good fortune to work alongside them all and that’s a first class crew. The selection committee got it right. … Joanne’s writing was elite in the 90’s and 2000s and TBH, I just never thought about her being a woman. The same goes for Donna Spencer at the Calgary bureau of the Canadian Press for all these years (if Donna’s not in the CFHOF, she should and will be). It might’ve been tough for them in a “man’s world” back in the day, but it’s not something they ever mentioned. They just seamlessly fit into the outstanding coverage the CFL boasted back in the day. … Don’t get me going on the state of the media now! Let’s take a moment and savour the job these Hall of Famers did in the golden era of Canadian sports.
5 – AUGUST 9, 1988: Sunday marked the 38th anniversary of the day sports changed forever. It was on that day that Wayne Gretzky was traded (along with Marty McSorley & Mike Krushelnyski) to the LA Kings for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, three first round draft picks and $15M USD. For the youngsters reading, it changed sports forever because from that day forward the adage became “If Gretzky can be traded, anybody can” and that concept echoes across all sports, at all levels, to this day. Nobody’s safe, nor untouchable. … It was also the day I stopped being an Edmonton Oilers fan, and I don’t regret it for a second. So many media members ask me about my hockey fandom and when I bring up this date, they don’t even ask for an explanation. Meanwhile the anniversary of the trade isn’t even acknowledged in Edmonton annually, and I don’t blame them. … Also, in my human behaviour training from my Recovery Coaching career, I can tell you factually that Oilers owner Peter Pocklington stating Wayne Gretzky has “an ego the size of Manhattan” was simply a narcissist projecting the despicable feelings about himself onto somebody else. It’s textbook. … Sometimes I wish I didn’t know this stuff but overall I’m glad that I do. You can spot it now from a mile away, plus the 15 other personality types.
6 – HOCKEY COVERAGE: What were people talking about the most in the NHL this week? Kelly Hrudey being dumped by Sportsnet as Hockey Night In Canada panelist and TV colour analyst of the Calgary Flames. Presumably Hrudey will be replaced by Kevin Sawyer and the move is already getting the thumbs-down from Flames fans. They like their Calgary-connected broadcasters and media members there, which I don’t blame them, and Sawyer is from Christina Lake, BC and is leaving the Winnipeg Jets TV crew. It’s another senseless move by Sportsnet. … The other top news item was the Covid-inspired spat between NHLer Evander Kane and Sportsnet’s Mark Spector on Twitter. Folks, if that’s what drives the hockey coverage bus these days, I can’t help you. That kind of stuff is childish and tasteless to me, however fans can’t seem to get enough of it. But it’s not for me, sorry. … The Detroit Red Wings are dead in the water, maybe for good. Blame another owner’s kid for ruining a franchise. … Frankly after perhaps the best summer of my life, I’m anxious to get back to Florida and get back on the hockey media trail. There have been a lot of you begging for more NHL coverage from my platforms and I’m more than happy to oblige. The Florida Panthers are the #1 favoured team to win the Stanley Cup this season at Fanduel while the Tampa Bay Lightning are #7. It should be another great winter of NHL hockey; my sixth covering the Sunshine State! … Canadian NHL team ranking from Fanduel: 1) Edmonton, 2) Montreal, 3) Toronto, 4) Ottawa, 5) Winnipeg, 6) Calgary, 7) Vancouver. … A Vancouver sports podcast I was on this week said I should be proud of my pick last year for the Stanley Cup Final: Carolina/Winnipeg. Sorry, but I just can’t be. Jets fans: don’t say I never believed I your team! … A Stanley Cup Final prediction for this season? It’s too early for that.
7 – HLINKA/GRETZKY: Canada returned to the top of the podium with an 8-1 victory over the United States at the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup at Rogers Place in Edmonton Saturday. Captain and 2026 WHL Champion Landon DuPont, who is a projected top pick for the 2027 NHL Draft, logged four assists in the win, marking Canada’s 14th gold medal in the last 18 editions of the tournament. 2025 WHL first-overall pick Maddox Schultz of the Regina Pats was named Canada’s Player of the Game with a two-goal, one-assist effort. Schultz’s Pats and Team Canada teammate Liam Pue also scored Saturday and led the tournament with six goals. The TSN broadcast crew of Gord Miller and Craig Button were raving about the pair’s play all tournament, wondering if they sleep in bunk beds in Regina. Maybe they do? … There’s been a big appetite for NHL coverage, but not so much for Junior Hockey talk from the audience. Maybe that will change with Schultz and Pue for a full season with the Pats this year, and lower ticket prices announced last week by God’s Team. Still, Queen City hockey fans don’t seem to like the owner.
8 – NFL CAMP COVERAGE: The USA Today came out with its 2026 NFL team record projections this week – I wait for it every year – and the teams I follow the most had middling forecasts. Writer Nate Davis pegs the Dallas Cowboys for 11 wins, the Las Vegas Raiders for three, and the Miami Dolphins for just one. If you wonder why those are the teams I follow the most, then you haven’t been paying much attention the past several years. … Friday’s news that Raiders DL Maxx Crosby and QB Kirk Cousins got into a scuffle, drawing discipline from coach Klint Kubiak, brought a smile to my face. Witnesses say Cousins was upset Crosby was too aggressive in team drills. Good! That’s what happens on teams with competitive fire. … The news from Cowboys camp? Dak Prescott looks fit and there’s immense pressure on America’s Team. This is a recording. … They sell tickets to Miami Dolphins practice at Hard Rock Stadium. And fans have to win a lottery to get ’em. It’s a different world down there.
9 – RODGERS: The clip from Aaron Rodgers appearing on the Pat McAfee show Monday already had millions of views by the time I got to see it after the RP Show was done for the day. I couldn’t – but yet I could – believe what was coming out of Rodgers’ mouth as he took aim at Dr. Anthony Fauci, ESPN, Diana Russini and anybody else with something to hide. Frankly I didn’t have an issue with any of what he had to say but thought it was incredibly disrespectful to go on McAfee’s show to say these things since IT AIRS on ESPN. For their part, ESPN simply issued a hollow “no comment” to ProFootballTalk.com when asked about the quarterback’s scathing criticism. … However McAfee didn’t have a problem with Rodgers comments at all so life goes on. As I learned long ago, we’re not held responsible for what our guests say. Thank God!
10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: Is it improper to use the ladies restroom if the mens is busy? It seems less offensive than not standing for the national anthem, or not taking your hat off. … Never trust a skinny cook. … Isn’t it illegal to text and skateboard? … Insults are gifts you don’t have to accept. … How isn’t Joey Chestnut dead? … A Porter Airlines flight to Toronto was canceled after a child refused to secure their seatbelt before takeoff this week. On Thursday, Porter Airlines flight PD444 had left the terminal at Victoria International Airport and was heading for the runway when crew members saw a toddler “standing in their seat”. Parents and a crew member had failed to secure the toddler’s seatbelt. The plane returned to the terminal, where the family was transported off the plane. The time it took to remove the family from the plane and file paperwork delayed the flight past 12:30 a.m. local time, which is when the airport’s runway closes, causing the flight to be canceled, and customers were de-planed and sent home. The family has not been publicly identified at this time. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?
Y’er welcome,
RP
