COMMENTARY: WORSE THAN EVER
(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on the All New Hit Radio 98 CKHD FM & LTD Radio)
It’s the first edition of the Good, the Great & the Ugly of the New Year!
First the good: It’ll be interesting to observe the fledgling Pro Womens Hockey League which dropped the puck on New Years Day in Toronto with the hosts falling 4-0 to New York.
You’d have had to had to be living under a rock to miss the first-ever game in the latest attempt at creating a womens pro hockey league.
Whomever’s idea it was to play at the MAC Arena – the old Maple Leaf Gardens – it was a good one. It’s not hard to sellout 23-hundred seats so that creates a great atmosphere.
If and when my niece plays in the league, I’ll really get into it. She’s one of the top players in U.S. womens college hockey.
Next the great: Speaking of college sports … Michigan and Washington are off to the national college football championship after narrow wins on Monday.
The Wolverines outlasted Alabama in just the second overtime in Rose Bowl history (that’s 110 years) while the Huskies held off a Texas comeback in the Sugar Bowl.
Those weren’t the teams I picked, nor was cheering for, but it was one heckuva way to kickoff the New Year.
And lastly the ugly: Take your pick between NFL officiating or the way the Transfer Portal has destroyed the College Bowl season with players switching teams or otherwise opting out of the big games.
I’ll take the officiating angle, with my Dallas Cowboys being gifted a big win Saturday night on a controversial call fans are still talking about.
As ESPN analyst and famed coach Herman Edwards said on Monday, “The last thing the NFL wants people talking about is officiating.”
Nor do I.
But please explain to me why, with the most sophisticated cameras and replay equipment the NFL’s ever had …
… the officiating is worse than ever.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 5 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, YouTube Live & Podcast)
Gambling!!
What about it???
He’s alluding to the fact that with NFL now tied to gambling it’s not like hockey or baseball. Football became the national passtime due to gambling as it was always prevalent. Sunday are the games. Monday night was to parlay or make up the losses. With the gambling tie in – it’s happened in NBA with dirty referring. I would not say that an Official would fix a game. I would say it’s not a stretch that he would know someone tied to it and a call here or a call there. What happened with Detroit/Dallas – anyone who knows… Read more »
Great stuff First the Ugly; It’s all honest now. When the NFL which never was a better game than the CFL or any other version of football hitched it’s wagon to gambling in an honest way. It is now what it is. The money is to big to get to the Coaches/Players – but some little part time official who sells insurance during the week; knows the game inside and out, along with the players/powers that be – nobody is going to tell me they are either in on the fix or a part of it. All NFL games were… Read more »
Jerry why can’t you just enjoy life? Why does women sports bother you so much? Don’t like don’t watch it problem solved! Also the dig at the U of R were you good enough to play ? Did you play at Florida that you can look down at the U of R?
Women’s sports doesn’t bother me one iota. Just do not ever and I mean ever say it’s equal or in the same realm. To insult the men who take the hard path up from SJHL to WHL to Pro etc, and to break bones, sacrifice relationships with family, the marriages end, and it’s all while being on busses to go up and down highways to advance their careers while working for people like Brent Parker or Chad Lang…..a woman would need a government program to cope with that. Find me a woman that could put up with that and we’ll… Read more »
this guy knows some people, hey
The ugly is the amount of people at the Trans Canada clash. ticket prices should be $20, beers $5, burgs $5, kids tix $5, snow cones 1 toonie, popcorn 2 toonies.(including all taxes and fees and bullhesh)
Bring back global pack the dome night every night and lets get this barn jumping like the old days
Brad, coach these guys up to be nails out there and keep fighting like they did with 5 left January 1st. love your energy on the bench
I think that thanks to hair brained decisions in the final minute by the coaches both the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl ended up being closer than they should have been. Rod, what’s your take on this?