MONDAY COMMENTARY – BEING FRANK

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

Well the NHL season is off to quite a start.

Mike Babcock hasn’t even coached a game with the Columbus Blue Jackets yet he resigned over the weekend due to a controversy involving his players.

I’m sure many of you came here today expecting some sort of damning commentary over Babs being forced to step down – claiming cancel culture at its worst – but that’s not the case.

Mike’s been great to me over the years but I’ve never worked with him, and definitely not for him. I’ve certainly had to answer to my share of bullies in my career so if this is a case of that, then that’s just karma. I’m at peace with everything working out the way it’s supposed to in life.

To be frank, I don’t really know all the ins and outs of what went down in Columbus, other than the players taking objection to Mike asking to see their summer photos from their smartphones.

For those huffing that the players are whiny, entitled brats, I’d ask how you’d feel if somebody asked you to hand over your phone and to provide the password.

Tom Brady went to court over that during Deflategate.

And to be frank again, if you recall during the summer, I said on record multiple times that I was surprised any team would give Babcock another opportunity, but time would tell.

Now here we are.

The Blue Jackets have egg on their face, Babs won’t coach again, and Biz Nasty and Spittin Chiclets are taking a victory lap. (They broke this story in the first place).

True power is *influence* and that podcast clearly has a lot of it.

People in sports better take a minute this week and have a good, long look at how this whole thing went down.

It’s a new age, and the players now have a voice.

In this case, it’s the podcast Spittin Chiclets but the same can be said across all sports, at all levels.

It ain’t how it used to be and what flew before doesn’t fly now.

I didn’t think this day would ever come.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 5 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)