Commentary: Moving The Needle

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

First the good: Canadians finally got their summer started when the hockey season ended one week ago with the Florida Panthers taking out the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

But our TVs remain lit up with hockey hilites – this time of the Junior variety – as we get set for this weekend’s NHL Draft. Don’t worry! Don’t follow it if you don’t want to. But it’s a big deal, and if you truly are sick of hockey filling your timeline, you’ll have to wait till mid-July when the hockey folk go silent for month.

Frankly I’m enjoying the coverage immensely since we don’t get the coverage in the States.

Next the great: The numbers are in and Friday’s RP Show featuring Canadian sports icon Tony Gabriel live from Joe Dog’s Sports Bar in Burlington, ON was our most-watched episode of 2025.

It’s up to me to figure out why that was, but what’s blaring is that anytime you can feature a sports celeb of Tony’s stature, people are going to tune in, no matter their age.

Shoot, the Canadian Football Hall of Famer and 2-time Grey Cup champ went into the Hall in 1985. 40 years ago! “Iconic” means that you never go out of style. That’s Tony.

This should also be a sign to other TV channels in this volatile time — the CFL still moves the needle.

And lastly, the ugly: CFL On TSN analyst Luke Willson is underfire for his criticism of the League lately and I had the chance to speak with him Monday.

The Super Bowl-winning tightend with Seattle wanted to clarify his comments, and also voice his displeasure with the comments I made on Monday’s show, and social media postings.

Like all the greats, Luke is misunderstood in a way and I assured him we’re on the same side in this.

But he also needs to learn that when you shoot your mouth off, you’re going to face the firing squad. (I wrote the manual on that).

However Willson’s got plenty of support too, including his old Seahawks teammate Jon Ryan who’s coming on my show today.

They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity and I’ve generally always gone along with that.

I just wonder if the sports world is ready to go along with it too. Because in my experience, they never have.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

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