COMMENTARY – TIME TO GO

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

A coupla three thoughts headed into the weekend …

#1 – If that was a Grey Cup preview to open Week 12 in the CFL … well … let’s hope not. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers pulverized the Montreal Alouettes 47-17 in the Slurpee Capital and showed ‘em who’s boss.

Montreal was denied a fifth straight victory and in my guy Cody Fajardo’s return to the field for the Alouettes, they didn’t help out their quarterback at all thanks to dropped passes, penalties and bad snaps.

I still say in life you can count on death, taxes, and Fajardo winning but one day it’s going to say on Cody’s tombstone “I CAN’T DO IT ALONE!”

#2 – It’s still pretty quiet on the sports scene in Canada, unless you’re big-time into Major League Baseball or really following NFL training camps. Despite us giving it a nudge, hockey still isn’t going yet and that’s why Wednesday’s Auston Matthews extension got so much play out of Toronto.

But it’s noteworthy that the CFL’s Top Prospect for next spring’s Draft is Ohio University quarterback Kurtis Rourke. He’s the first-ever QB listed #1 and is the younger brother of Jacksonville Jaguars QB Nathan Rourke. Both hail from Oakville, ON.

When the prospect list was announced Thursday, I quickly scanned the home schedule for the Florida Atlantic University Owls and sure enough; Rourke and the Ohio Bobcats visit FAU on September 9 at Howard Schnellenberger Stadium.

I’ll be there. The stadium is a short walk from my place, and I’m excited to see him play in person.

And #3 – After just a tremendous summer, it’s time to bid Calgary adieu. I simply can’t thank Century Downs Racetrack & Casino enough for hosting our show for five weeks, the groups who had me host their events in the city, and the teams for putting their people on our TV & Radio show.

And I did a lot of learnin’. Particularly about the Calgary Flames.

I was pumping Darryl Sutter’s tires all along but the deeper I got into the hockey community, the more I was cautioned against doing that. Now that the Jolly Rancher’s been fired, that relationship is deeply fractured, perhaps forever.

Hey – I was just trying to be positive! It goes to show you that in sports, what you see is rarely what you get.

Either way, THANK YOU CALGARY! Can’t wait till the next time.

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)