COMMENTARY: NOBODY CARES

(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)

It’s Tuesday and that means another edition of the Good, the Great & the Ugly!

First the good: From a pure drama standpoint, the CFL needed the comeback game in Calgary on Monday where the Stampeders scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Edmonton Elks 35-31.

The heat was growing on the Stamps and had they lost, they’d have been 3-9 and fading fast. Coach & GM Dave Dickenson still has a lot to prove replacing John Hufnagel but that’s a game they needed in front of a season-high crowd.

As for the Elks, a three-game win streak would’ve been too unbelievable of a story.

Next the great: I’m reluctantly accepting the notion that Labour Day Weekend is the unofficial kickoff to the CFL season.

When I worked in the league, I found that adage to be insulting – (i.e. ‘What the heck have we been doing the past three months’) – but now as a fan, I get it.

The Roughriders’ Pete Robertson’s headbutt of Winnipeg QB Zach Collaros in Sunday’s Labour Day Classic in Regina probably wouldn’t have happened in Weeks 1 through 9 but when the emotions are ramped up, people lose their minds.

Robertson did just that, and now will have to miss this week’s Banjo Bowl due to a one-game suspension.

Things had been getting too quiet around here so I kicked the hornet’s nest that’s the Blue Bomber media and fanbase and triggered them all by pointing out why their team lost on the weekend. My post drew almost 1,000 comments on Facebook (which is the new “open line” format).

Lo and behold I’ve been asked to appear on Winnipeg Sports Talk on Tuesday afternoon.

Sometimes it’s just too easy, and that’s GREAT.

And lastly, the ugly: This is my third season of covering big time U.S. College football here in Florida and there’s already been a lot of change within that period.

Now, as always, it depends on your perspective but most within the game feel what’s going on is downright ugly; coaches and players are changing teams at will via the transfer portal (Google it) and it’s created outright chaos.

Imagine if that happened in Junior Hockey? Coaches jump from team-to-team when their contract’s up and players can switch schools twice during their tenure. That would be like Connor Bedard playing for three different teams during his junior career!

It’s created an incredibly volatile landscape and made the rich richer and the poor poorer.

And the ugliest thing is … nobody cares.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)