Commentary: Great Game, Crappy Business
Photo: Miami Marlins
(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on the All New Hits 98 CKHD & LTD Radio)
It’s Tuesday and time for another edition of the Good, the Great & the Ugly!
First the good: Major League Baseball observed Jackie Robinson Day on Monday, with players and ballparks adorned with the #42 across the land.
That includes the Blue Jays who upset the Yankees 3-1 in Toronto, and the Marlins who fell 4-3 to San Fran here in Miami.
Jackie Robinson’s #42 was retired league-wide in 1997, in recognition of him breaking the colour barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Perhaps young people should look it up. If they don’t know who O.J. was, they may not know about Robinson either.
By the way here’s a tip on haters & bigots: Once you realize there’s something deeply, deeply wrong with them rather than you, it makes it a lot easier to understand, and slightly easier to deal with.
Next the great: It’s the year of hockey greatness. Monday night Connor McDavid hit 100 assists on the season, joining Gretzky, Orr and Lemieux as the only NHLers to do it.
That is till Wednesday, when Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov could do it in a home game against Toronto. He hit 99 last night.
And the NHL announced on Monday they’ve hit an all-time attendance record of 22,560,634 fans. That beat the record set just last year.
The coolest game on earth!
And lastly the ugly: You want evidence of sports being a great game, but a crappy business?
The Pats let go assistant coaches Evan McFeeters and Daniel Wapple on Monday, seemingly for no great reason.
Meanwhile coach Kelly Jeffrey, who was the Riders offensive coordinator just last year, is now selling cars in the Maritimes. You want to know why no one wanted to take that job? That’s why.
Great game, crappy business.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 5 pm on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)
I just for the life of me could never figure out how anyone could make a living tied to the moods and biorhythms of teenagers. We should all have a lot of respect for these Junior Hockey Coaches – but the lesson is clear. Unless you have some kind of Trade or a role with a tonne of security then it’s not for the faint of heart. They’re the same kind of heart/crazy as Rodeo Cowboys and those guys are the toughest of the tough. With regards to Football Coaches. That’s even tougher. 1 year contracts, 80 hour work weeks,… Read more »
This is why people never advance or move ahead. Who runs baseball with their billion dollar franchises? White people. Jackie Robinson Day has about as much intergrity as going to an event and sitting through the Land Acknowledgments/National Athems. Nothing changed. The only thing that happened was Branch Rickey realized he could make money off those players, and that those players in the Negro Leagues were by far better than anything MLB was trotting out unless you discuss pitching. A great pitcher in 1920 is the same as 1947 and 2024 – 105 MPH is 105 MPH. If they r.e.a.l.l.y… Read more »
Too bad the Jays couldn’t close out that sweep….