FOOTBALL FRIDAY RUNDOWN: VANDERJAGT, BARKER & MORE

Fridays are reserved for the gridiron on The RP Show and we tackled IT ALL on Episode #1,073 on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast and YouTube Live! Here’s the rundown:

• RP and Moose Dupont kicked it off with The Warmup covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) Thursday featured an 11-game U.S. College football slate and we covered the highlights, 2) CFL Chatter and Labour Day Weekend preview – BC (-4) at Montreal, Winnipeg (-7.5) at Saskatchewan, Toronto (-8) at Hamilton and Edmonton at Calgary (-4). In Hour 2 we’d play Deal or No Deal for our official betting partner Bet Regal, 3) Is there a QB crisis in the CFL?, 4) Canada West season kickoff preview with three Friday games – SASK at MB, UBC at REG and AB at CGY, 5) NFL Notes and 6) Sports weekend lookahead.
• CFL on TSN panelist and 5-time Grey Cup champion Jim Barker joined the show for his weekly appearance presented by EMJ Marketing and said rather than a QB crisis, the CFL is facing a changing-of-the-guard at that position. Barker discussed the Argonauts making QB Chad Kelly the CFL’s highest-paid player (marketing in the Toronto market played a role), and he untangled the politics which led to QB Nathan Rourke joining the Jaguars practice roster. Regarding the Labour Day Weekend games, Jim said if there’s an upset to be had, it’s Hamilton over Toronto.
• The Key Auto Group daily poll question was: Who’s the greatest Canadian NFL’er of all-time – Jon Ryan, Mike Vanderjagt, Reuben Mayes or Chase Claypool? After much debate, we settled on former Redskins QB Mark Rypien.
• Gregarious NFL/CFL veteran Mike Vanderjagt – a Super Bowl winner with Indianapolis and 2-time Grey Cup champion with Toronto – joined the show from Upstate New York for a hilarious chat. “Vandy” said he should be best known for retiring as the NFL’s career field goal percentage leader (86.5%). That’s now seventh all-time, and Mike said that’s due to specialized coaching. He discussed beginning his career with the 1993 Saskatchewan Roughriders, getting cut by Don Matthews, then joining the Matthews-led Argos to win two Grey Cups a few years later. The Toronto product talked about having a set of NFL uprights erected in his lavish backyard, and said a soccer background was the key to his NFL field goal success.
• Thursday’s Rockstar of the Day was Mike Richards. Friday’s was Mike Vanderjagt!
• If you missed the show you can catch the replay at 10 pm PT/12 am CT on Game+TV, on our YouTube channel or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
• Have a great Labour Day Weekend and we’ll see you on Tuesday at 12 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast and YouTube Live!