MONDAY SHOW RECAP: MICHAEL LANDSBERG, THEO FLEURY JOIN!

We were back on the air Monday with Episode 198 of The Rod Pedersen Show! Here are the highlights:

• Rod and Dupes got things going with The Rollout for Flooring Superstore covering these Devine Nine show topics: 1) Canada pulls out of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, 2) The Belichick/Brady split, 3) How do you cheer for your favourite teams anymore with franchise icons switching teams?, 4) Dave Naylor’s question of who will be the 5th place team in the CFL West in 2020?, 5) Is Rod really considered a conspiracy theorist?, 6) A Rider fan’s kooky Twitter theory that the Riders weren’t active in free agency because they knew the 2020 season might be in jeopardy, 7) Our weekends, 8) A splendid Oilers season being wasted, and 9) Broadcast ghosts in the studio between show airings.
• Rod agreed with the Canadian Olympic Committee’s decision on Tokyo, and then offered the delicious question of: Did Tom Brady build the Patriots dynasty or did the Patriots build Tom Brady? Regarding the Conspiracy Theorist discussion, Rod said he thinks of himself more as the person who simply says what everyone else is thinking, and prefers an honest straight-forward approach. He admitted that that approach isn’t always appreciated by everybody, but he isn’t changing now.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Who will win more NFL games in 2020: Brady’s Buccaneers or Belichick’s Patriots? 59% of respondents said Tampa Bay.
• Vegas Golden Knights insider Gary Lawless joined the show from his home in Summerlin, NV and talked about the current state of the Knights players, the affects of a long NHL layoff, and how the Knights fanbase is primarily made up of native Las Vegans rather than tourists from around the world who pass through Sin City. Gary also gave his take on 2020 CFL favourites, saying he favours Winnipeg and Saskatchewan (mainly because of their head coaches).
• 10-year CFL veteran and Grey Cup champ Mike Abou-Mechrek joined the bunker in Segment 2 and said he’s not keeping up with the panic around the Coronavirus, but he’s checking the stock market closely. Dupont left the bunker during Abou’s segments – to respect Social Distancing – so Rod and Abou debated media coverage of the pandemic and who to trust (or not trust). They took many questions and comments from the Facebook live feed, and the Prairie Mobile text line.
• TSN’s Michael Landsberg joined the show from his home in Toronto saying the Stay-At-Home edict is a haven for introverts and anti-social types such as himself! He and Abou discussed being native Torontonians, and Landsberg gave Netflix viewing tips (he suggests Queen Of The South). The Canadian pop culture icon also admitted that outside of Ontario, the province he visits the most to do public speaking is Saskatchewan. He joked that he has yet to come across a Jewish person in his travels to Sask. Regarding sports coverage at the moment, “The NFL scores again,” Landsberg said, as they are front-and-centre during the pandemic, and conducting business as usual.
• Another Canadian icon, Theoren Fleury, joined the show from his kitchen in Calgary. He said he’s in self-isolation after his most-recent trip, a visit to the Canadian Armed Forces base in Petawawa, ON. He’s been helping soldiers dealing with PTSD. Theo’s interview was timely, as a 2-time Olympian, and said he has no problem with the COC’s decision to pull out of the Tokyo Games. He took questions on his Olympic experiences (Brendan Shanahan and Joe Nieuwendyk were his linemates on the 4th line in Salt Lake City, UT in 2002), and the famed shootout to decide the 1998 Nagano Games hockey tournament. Theo said that tourney all came down to the goaltending of Canada’s Patrick Roy and the Czech Republic’s Dominek Hasek. (“They might as well of pulled out a game of Scrabble and played at centre ice,” Fleury said).
• Monday’s show is available for viewing now on our Facebook page, you can listen to the podcast by clicking on the PODCAST tab at the top of this page, or you can listen anytime on our 24-hour live streaming audio service at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive presented by SUDS Full Service Car Wash in Regina.
• See you at 10 am MT Tuesday on Facebook Live and RodPedersen.com/ListenLive!