THE MONDAY MORNING GOALIE
Taking shots …
1 – SUPER SUNDAY: Being the squirrel that I am, I have a tough time focusing for six straight hours of football – or hockey for that matter – but Sunday’s NFL conference championship games were must-see TV. I’m sure they were for you too! The Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams have advanced to Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles in two weeks’ time and it’s provided an impossible-to-predict match-up. Remarkably, the home team will appear in the Super Bowl for a second straight year after 54 years without.
2 – WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: The Cincinnati Bengals have become the unlikeliest Super Bowl participant in Vegas betting history, overcoming 300-1 preseason odds to advance to Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. (A $100 bet on the Bengals this summer would net you $30,000, and at least one person did). They overcame an 18-point deficit, the largest in AFC championship history, to boot.
Where’s ESPN 1530 Cincinnati’s Mo Egger when you need him? We hope to have Mo on some of our live RP Shows from Tinseltown next week. Yes, the plan is for us to be there.
3 – AFC/NFC NOTES: Road teams were 4/6 the past two NFL playoff weekends. … Sunday’s 27-24 OT loss for Kansas City against Cincinnati proved that Patrick Mahomes is indeed human. I’m no coach, but Mahomes appeared to be a shade too casual – particularly in overtime – with a fumble and ultimately game-costing interception. … Hopefully the NFL gets their halftime show under control. In both Kansas City and L.A. on Sunday, the TV halftime panels were inaudible on-field prompting CBS analyst Boomer Esiason to huff at Nate Burleson, “I have no idea what you just said.” … Both teams went with silent counts at SoFi Stadium Sunday night, whatwith 65% of the crowd in L.A. being pro-San Francisco. … Will the ultimate NFL insider Adam Schefter emerge with egg on his face? His scoop on Saturday that Tom Brady plans to retire was quickly dismissed by Brady who reportedly told the Buccaneers he hasn’t made his mind up yet. ESPN was undaunted however, pumping 24 hours of coverage about the Goat’s career. Methinks TB12 will come back in 2022 just to prove ‘em wrong. … The same designer of SoFi Stadium also drew up Mosaic Stadium in Regina and AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
4 – LIFE OF REILLY: The #1 topic in the CFL last week was the retirement of Michael Reilly after 11 seasons with Edmonton and BC, and my assertion that his place in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame is no slam dunk. The pundits are bringing up all Reilly’s stats and his former teammates scoff at any resistance to an induction. However to me, Reilly’s career somewhat mirrors Darian Durant’s, yet no one is clamouring for Darian to be enshrined. (However DD’s teammates would disagree, just like Reilly’s). In the end, the voters will decide but it remains inexplicable that Kent Austin hasn’t been inducted. My favourite thing in sports is Hall of Fame debates, so I can put up with the mouth-breathers ranting that I’m “stupid”, “horrible” and “crazy”. Just keep watching.
5 – LAUTHER’ED UP: It was tremendous to see the Saskatchewan Roughriders sign veteran kicker Brett Lauther to a new two-year deal on Saturday. The Truro, NS product has proven to be one of the most clutch kickers in Rider history and my guess is if the NFL ever does come calling, the Riders would release him to pursue the opportunity. That too is inexplicable, why Brett’s never received an NFL look. As they say, “If the door doesn’t open, it’s not your door.”
6 – MORE CFL NOTES: The real reason former CFL MVP Brandon Banks asked for his release from Hamilton last week has yet to be reported, to my knowledge, but from the outside it reminds me of star cornerback Omarr Morgan leaving the Riders after seven seasons (2000-2006) because he felt he’d never win a Grey Cup in Saskatchewan. Morgan signed with Edmonton for 2007 and the Riders went on to win a Grey Cup that season. “O” came back to the Riders from 2008-2010 but all that got him was two Grey Cup losses. … The CFL is a great league and it says here it can be saved, and restored to prominence. Having spent all that time in Calgary the past few weeks, I heard tales of the Stampeders boasting 30,000 season ticket holders in the 2000s. It reminds me of a saying we have in Recovery: “No situation is hopeless. What’s been created can be re-created. What’s been done can be undone.” … When’s Riderville Arizona? I see they didn’t have one in 2021.
7 – RAISING KANE: The Edmonton Oilers were undaunted with the criticism over signing Evander Kane and the controversial winger wasted no time tickling the twine in his Oiler debut, scoring 11:21 into the first period of Saturday’s 7-2 win at Montreal. Not surprisingly, all the Oilers TV panelists applauded the move Saturday night saying it makes sense for “pure hockey reasons” and Kane backed that up on the ice. The Oilers had already won three in a row without Kane, but GM Ken Holland clearly felt his team was in need of a shakeup. Mission accomplished, and it’ll be fascinating to see where this goes. I’m still not sold.
8 – SHOCKEY HOCKEY: I’ve written here about how hockey-mad the province of Alberta is and one such Albertan is former WHL coach and NHL scout Parry Shockey (aka “Parry S. Hockey”). It was a true pleasure to welcome Shocks down to the Grey Eagle Resort & Casino to watch the show live last week and even come on air. He’ll participate in the casino’s celebrity golf tournament at Bearspaw Golf Club in June and Darren Dupont and I will emcee the festivities. Come join us! And what a treat it’s been reconnecting with Parry – we were together with the Regina Pats in 1997-98 – and it began with him discovering the RP Show on television last summer in Lethbridge on Game+.
9 – FIVE FOR HOWLING: It remains fascinating to me; Canadians’ fixation with the Arizona Coyotes arena drama. I mean, Arizonans don’t even care that much! Anyway, people are rolling their eyes and scoffing with the report that the Coyotes may move into a 5,000-seat arena at Arizona State University while a new arena is built. I maintain that Arizona hasn’t failed the NHL, but the NHL has failed Arizona, and I’ve spent a lot of time around that club. The fact remains Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo has unending resources (the type Commissioners covet) and a big enough ego to not allow his franchise to fail in the Valley of the Sun.
10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: The Saskatchewan Rush moved out of the NLL West Conference basement wth a 16-7 win over Panther City (Fort Worth) on Saturday night. The Rush are at Vancouver on Friday. … Nearly two years into this Covid mess, it sure seems we haven’t made a ton of progress. The trucker convoy was entertaining to follow and their perspective has been respectfully observed by political leaders. For me, I’ve still got friends whose life-saving surgeries keep getting postponed due to a lack of hospital beds which are taken up by Covid patients. There’s very clearly two sides to this mess, and I’ve yet to pick either one of them. … The TSN panel set the over/under for Connor Bedard’s point total in Friday’s Pats game at 3.5 against the Brandon Wheat Kings on national television. Connor finished with two assists in a 6-4 loss. … We’ll be back at Grey Eagle Resort & Casino in Calgary for another residency of the RP Show on Game+ TV beginning February 14. It was originally scheduled to be another two week stint, but the casino’s extended it to four weeks! Thanks for your support of the shows. … Join Lanny McDonald, Chris Walby and me at the Assiniboia Sports Celebrity Dinner & Auction on April 9 at Prince of Wales Centre! For tickets, head to Nelson Motors & Equipment. … I’d like to see a podcast hosted by NFL’er Eli Apple and CFL’er Anthony Orange. If they could add Shawn Lemon, they could call it the Fruit Basket.
Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen
Randoms; A guy was blasting away at how his “freedom” has been taken due to vaccines. I said “that half tonne you just bought how much?” He says “$32 grand fully loaded.” I said “did you pay cash or loan/lease?” He says “loan why?” I said “that was after you got your raise?….congrats your changed to your desk now making payments on that and other useless junk you make payments on……tell me again about your freedom?” In a pandemic and a person isnt doing their part. It is same term they used for WW2 guys who couldnt muster up the… Read more »
All terrific points Randy, spot on!
Why call people dumb that disagree with your view?
What’s dumb is mandating a substance that doesn’t do what it was intended to do. Case in point; our triple jabbed Covid positive PM.
You think the truckers are cowards, many of us think they are hero’s.
Wrong. During WW2 did you know we had to ration? That meant nylon or any type of metal was used for creating parachutes and various armored vehicles. Imagine someone standing out there saying their freedom was at risk as they can’t where stockings? Those are same types bleating their snot nosed kids missed a little league or hockey game. Perish the thought the pour souls actually just read a book and focus on school Terrible parenting = Terrible kids – I’ve seen it all first hand coaching Hockey/Baseball and glad to be done with it. Like I said 15 years… Read more »
We should be examining your parents skills raising you. Teaching you to talk down to everyone that disagrees with you and acting like you are the voice of reason for every topic there is in the world. Boy they sure did a number on you. Taught you how to get divorced and treat people like crap. Great parenting! Grow up and stop being a jerk and bully on here.
….and case in point many of you once bought Vanilla Ice Cd’s. I was a teenager and bought my George Strait, Mark Chestnut and Vince Gill stuff. The real deals last the test of time.
Y’all are all still listless and searching ergo following Truckers as your heroes.
Sorry Obama, you are wrong on this one. Fine get the vaccine if it makes you feel safer. Everyone should have the right to choose. Especially since it doesn’t reduce transmission and prevent you from getting it. Those are facts and the truth. According to you, the truth doesn’t have to answer questions. If the vaccine worked and prevented transmission and you getting it, it might be a different story. You shouldn’t be mandating a vaccine that doesn’t really work as intended.