MONDAY COMMENTARY: “NOW HEAR THIS”

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

Summer is for football!

The Blue Jays and Wimbledon are great – I’m sure they’re nice people – but to me, football’s meant to be played under the hot sun amid the smell of freshly-cut grass.

Week 5 in the CFL has wrapped up and while the games weren’t scintillating, there was some drama coming out of them.

Starting with the Riders, they are 3-1 following Thursday’s 12-11 home win over Edmonton and can thank rookie Elks returner C.J. Sims for his special teams blunder, allowing a single point on a kickoff with a minute to go for the winning point.

Now hear this: They don’t ask “how”, they ask “how many” and this has been a pretty good start for the Green & White.

In other games Winnipeg downed Calgary 24-11, Hamilton bounced Ottawa 21-13 and BC clobbered Montreal 35-19.

Toronto is the CFL’s only unbeaten team at 3-0 while both Winnipeg and BC are 4-1. How long will this 3-horse race continue? I could see it going right down to the end.

Meanwhile Ottawa’s in a lot of trouble with QB Jeremiah Masoli going down with injury Saturday night at Tim Hortons Field and now their top two quarterbacks are out.

One old CFL adage has never changed: The team that finishes on top usually was the healthiest and got some good luck along the way.

Meanwhile here in the U.S., we wrapped up the week-long USA Football national Flag Football championship at UNC-Charlotte, as well as the Continental Americas Championship. Two separate tournaments with a couple hundred teams, and I was lucky enough to broadcast all the medal games.

It was the most organized, professionally-run football event I’ve ever attended – save for maybe Super Bowl – and for the championship games, the stands at the USA Performance Center were packed. America knows how to football.

And this is living; seeing a beautiful new city, making lots of new friends including plenty from the National Football League and around the world. Where is this going to lead? I think I’ll keep that info to myself.

One of my main takeaways was that American football dads are just like Canadian hockey moms. Like junkyard dogs. It’s best to stay out of their way, and pay them no attention.

More proof that people are the same, generally, wherever you go.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

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