Friday Commentary: Three Or More Thoughts

(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on All New Hits 98 & LTD Radio)

A coupla three or more thoughts entering the weekend …

#1 – What a night at the good ol’ hockey game. The Florida Panthers fell down 4-1 to Todd McLellan’s Detroit Red Wings here in Sunrise and fans were headed to the exits. But they call ‘em the “Comeback Cats” for a reason. Florida scored four unanswered goals, including three in the third, to steal a 5-4 victory and it all turned out nice again. Afterwards I saw Todd standing by the Wings bus. He looked like someone had shot his dog.

#2 – It was a fun trivia game I played on Facebook. Todd is one of how many Saskatchewan-born head coaches in the NHL? The answer is five. Scruffy & Craig Adam got it first. The others: Mike Babcock in Edmonton, Lane Lambert in Seattle, Glen Gulutzan in Dallas and Jared Bednar in Colorado. I wanna say the most we ever had at one time was six.

#3 – Without question Grey Cup Week is in full swing. We’ve done the picks & previews here already and frankly, I’m ready for kickoff. BUT we’ve got a big Football Friday coming up on the RP Show and it’ll include Jim Barker by viewers request. You’re not gonna want to miss that!

#4 – On Thursday the streaming platform DAZN revealed their broadcast team for their inaugural season and it’s an interesting bunch. My old friend James Cybulski (we worked together on The Score & Sportsnet 20+ years ago) will handle the play-by-play, Brit Dort will host, and the analysts are Chris Streveler, Simoni Lawrence & Shawn Lemon. All great people and I’m eager to tune in.

Some younger football broadcasters are forlorn because Cybulski’s never called a game of football in his life and for that, I don’t blame them. But that’s the way this business is now. Shoot, I called my first-ever basketball game this week in Tampa Bay. I was nervous, but it went great. You gotta start somewhere, and you gotta evolve too.

All this news did was confirm that I’m in the right place.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

(Sign Up For the Rod Squad Newsletter for insider columns, Hot Takes, contests & more!)