FLAME TECH FOOTBALL FRIDAY RUNDOWN – AND PIZZA POPS!

Fridays are reserved for the gridiron and we tackled it all – and more – on Episode #465 of The RP Show – Canada’s Daytime Sports Talk Show! Read on for the rundown:

• RP and Moose Dupont kicked it off with The Warmup for Four Seasons Sports Palace covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) Global Draft leftovers (the hosts are taking the Draft seriously while many are not), 2) RP’s been told the top two Rider Global picks won’t be reporting for camp, 3) #1 NFL Draft Prospect Trevor Lawrence makes controversial comments saying he doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder and isn’t driven by a Super Bowl, 4) Thursday NHL leftovers (are the Jets the #1 team in Canada?), 5) The RP Show NHL Top 5 are Colorado, Carolina, Tampa, Washington & Winnipeg while the Bottom 5 are Columbus, Calgary, Anaheim, Ottawa and lastly, Buffalo, and 6) Weekend lookahead.
• 3DownNation CFL Insider Justin Dunk joined the show from Southern Ontario and recapped the Global Draft. He said this year’s picks are more pro-ready than the 2019 class however the top Global players are going to the NFL’s International program. Dunk unpacked his reports on the Ontario government not willing to sign off on a CFL Return To Play, and the reasons why. He reasoned that the CFL is still “beholden to the virus”. Dunk also said the Trevor Lawrence comments raised some red flags but won’t stop him from being drafted #1 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars later this month.
• RP stated that his day got off to a good start with Pizza Pops Tweeting at him that he’s “amazing”. That spawned a back-and-forth with viewers over their love affair with the tasty microwavable treat, and caused American viewers to ask what they’re missing out on? The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: What’s the best flavour of Pizza Pops – Pepperoni & Bacon, Deluxe, Three Cheese or Hawaiian? At press time, Pepperoni & Bacon were leading by a landslide however Pizza Pops tweeted back the answer “all of them”.
• Hall of Fame Roughriders broadcaster John “Frenzy” Lynch was with us for the Hour 2 Second Half Kickoff and we debated the CFL’s Global Draft, and the status of the 2021 CFL season. Lynch spoke for many people in being extremely frustrated on the lack of details around the season and the proposed CFL/XFL collaboration. However like many old-time fans, he’s warming up to the idea of a merger if that’s what will save the league. RP said with the CFL dropping the “collaboration” bomb five weeks ago – with no other details mentioned – it’s opened the door to rampant speculation.
• No Credentials Required Podcast host Ryan McCarthy joined the show from Albany, NY to discuss the unveiling of the new Albany NLL team name, the “Albany Firewolves”. Ryan discussed the history of the NLL in Albany (the franchise has relocated from New England), and how fired up the local fans are. McCarthy also detailed his love of the CFL and said he used to listen to Roughriders games online with Rod calling the play-by-play. He revealed his favourite CFL team is the Montreal Alouettes, dating back to their existence as the Baltimore Stallions. Rod related that a merger would spawn an entirely new generation of CFL fans in the USA.
• Mental Health advocate Paul Laberge joined the show from Lloydminster to promote his walk this August from Regina to Lloydminster in an effort to raise Mental Health Awareness. Laberge detailed his personal story including losing his father to suicide and an attempt to take his own life. Rod said he’ll join Paul for the walk out of Regina this summer. You can get more info on Paul’s journey by researching Libbie Young Centre and CanadaHelps.com online.
• Friday’s show is available for viewing now on our Facebook/YouTube pages, you can listen to the podcast by clicking on the CONTENT tab at the top of this page or listen anytime to our 24-hour live audio feed at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive.
• See you at 10 am MT/12 pm ET on Monday on Game+, YouTube/Facebook Live and RodPedersen.com/ListenLive. We’ll have NHL analyst and scout Rich Sutter in the bunker!