The Monday Morning Goalie For SUDS

Truth & Rumours For SUDS Car Wash

1 – THEN THERE WERE FOUR: Quick – who had a Seahawks/Broncos Super Bowl? Or a Patriots/Rams? Answer: ABSOLUTELY NO ONE! However all those possibilities are all on the table coming out of NFL Division Playoff Weekend after Seattle, L.A., New England and Denver advanced to the Conference Championships next weekend. By now you’ve been bombarded with all the coverage coming out of the epic weekend doubleheaders, including the Bo Nix season-ending injury, the Bills getting jobbed on calls, and CJ Stroud’s disappearing act in Foxborough. BRING IT ON! No one could’ve predicted this ending and it’s still getting better every week.

**UPDATE: The Buffalo Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott Monday morning.

2 – OTHER NFL: A lot of times you can look back at a season and pinpoint exactly where it came together, or fell apart. That overtime win over L.A. on Thursday Night Football in Week 17 was the turning point for Seattle. … What was the turning point for my Dallas Cowboys, who missed the playoffs, again, despite a coaching change? Week 1 when Ceedee Lamb dropped three passes on TNF at Philadelphia. Or even before that when a tiff between defensive captain Micah Parsons and Owner/GM Jerry Jones landed Micah in Green Bay. The insiders say Jerry doesn’t have the day-to-day control over the Cowboys anymore. So what! He still has plenty of influence to blow up a team internally, which he does every year. … John Harbaugh to the NY Giants? The first thing I thought was THAT was clearly the most desirable job, and NOT Atlanta where the Falcons have good young pieces and QBs in place, nor Las Vegas where the Raiders own the #1 pick. … As for the Miami Dolphins, Troy Aikman has been brought on board as an advisor. Why isn’t he consulting with the Cowboys, the more natural choice? Shannon Sharpe said on his podcast it’s because Jerry doesn’t want to share the spotlight.

3 – NHL NOTEBOOK: The Calgary Flames made the wise, prudent decision by shipping pending free agent defenceman Rasmuss Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday for a tidy package which included D Zach Whitecloud and a 2027 1st round pick. It’s too early to declare a winner in the trade, but it seems like a decent haul for the rebuilding Flames while Vegas addressed a big whole on their blueline. It’s always best when a trade works out for both sides! … The Columbus Blue Jackets are 3-0 under Rick Bowness since Monday’s coaching change. The only other coaches in franchise history to start 3-0 are Doug MacLean and Claude Noel. … 2026 remains the Year of the Hattrick. Nikolaj Ehlers notched one Friday night for Carolina and Andre Svechnikov did it Saturday for the Canes. Mikka Zabinejad scored thrice for the NY Rangers on Saturday as well. … Jets fans point to the inability to re-sign Ehlers in free agency as a big reason why the team’s in the tank this year. Hey, if he didn’t want to stay, he didn’t want to stay. … The Flames beat the Islanders 4-2 in the Saddledome to open Hockey Day In Canada and Dustin Wolf netted his 52nd career win. That puts him one victory back of Rick Wamsley for the #10 spot. … Islanders rookie #1 pick Matthew Schaeffer notched two assists in the loss, his sixth multi-point game this season. Only Phil Housley (13), Bobby Orr (8) and Rasmus Dahlin (8) had more multi-point games as teens. Schaeffer still has half a season and next year to go! … The NHL has approved The RP Show for press box seats at the February 1 Stadium Series game in Tampa Bay between the Lightning and Boston Bruins. Covering the NHL in FLA has been very lucrative for us and we are incredibly grateful to the National Hockey League.

4 – HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA: It was the 22nd year of the famed Hockey Night in Canada promotion and the coverage out of Moncton and area was fantastic. Thanks to Ron Maclean we now know that Moncton is Canada’s second fastest-growing city, behind only Calgary! And the lobster peeling contest between Eliott Friedman and Kevin Bieksa in nearby Shedia, NB was must-see TV. … Can I say it? I love Moncton? We’ve been there a few times, most notably 2019 Touchdown Atlantic in the CFL. Sadly, at the time, the locals told me they’re more of an NFL region but they put on a spectacular weekend for the Alouettes & Argonauts. I was on hand MC’ing CFLAA festivities and was thrilled to explore the whole region, the home of Russ Howard.

5 – CFL: A hearty bravo to the CFL for what seemed to be successful winter meetings in Calgary this week. So the league is scrapping tie games – long overdue – and officially adopting a 35-second playclock, although the final 3:00 of each half will remain a 20-second playclock. I sent a note to a CFL coach asking why they’re married to the 20-second playclock in the final 3:00 and his response was, “I believe it will keep the amount of plays high in the last 3 minutes. So the game ‘never being over’ will stay a part of the CFL game. Harder to kneel it out, more possessions.” But doesn’t the NFL have its share of wild endings too? “Oh ya,” he responded. “More timeouts in the NFL though.” There ya go, and that’s why I ask the experts. … Lots of media coverage came out of the winter meetings, so kudos to the CFL for allowing that to happen.

6 – PINBALL: CFL icon Mike “Pinball” Clemons turned 61 on Thursday but the Dunedin, FL product found himself in the crosshairs of reporters Justin Dunk and Arash Madani this week for his alleged role in the “Corey Mace Tampering” story from this off-season. Pinner was vague on the details around what, if any, discipline the Argonauts faced for allegedly contacting the Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach about their vacancy after the season. As the story goes, it led to the firing of front office exec John Murphy but Clemons shrugged at it all. Dunk pressed Commissioner Stewart Johnston about it in Wednesday’s news conference but Johnston didn’t budge. My take? The League doesn’t want it discussed any further so that’s MY cue. It’s not a threat to national security nor is it a misappropriation of funds. NEXT!

Overtime Hockey Lanes – Calgary. Give Us A Shot!

7 – THE NATTY: As you can imagine, where I live in South Florida is ON FIRE right now, metaphorically, leading up to Monday night’s Super Bowl of College Football, the National Championship featuring the hometown Miami Hurricanes and the visiting Indiana Hoosiers. The Canes are the first team to play for a Natty in their own stadium in CFP history while the Hoosiers are led by a Miami kid, QB Fernando Mendoza, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner. … If that’s not enough, longtime Canes season ticket holders are up in arms that tickets for the game have been jacked to a minimum of $3,900 and parking spots alone are $700! They’re mad at the NCAA, not the University of Miami, but as my Sponsor Bob pointed out – a longtime businessman and College Football fanatic – those fans could’ve bought tickets for $500 when they went on sale a year ago but they didn’t think their team would make it this far. SUCKS TO BE YOU! I refrained from passing that tidbit along to the locals. … It reminds me of the Regina Pats making it to the 2017 WHL Final and Queen City sports fans crying afoul when they couldn’t get tickets, and were left waiting inline at Safeway for hours (for cheap tickets) only to come up emptyhanded. Meanwhile those of us with season tickets were sitting pretty. PLAN AHEAD AND BELIEVE IN YOUR TEAM!

8 – HISSSSS: CBC Saskatchewan called this week to do an interview on the Saskatchewan Rattlers name change and apparent rebrand. I did some digging and this is what I’ve learned: The Saskatchewan Pro Basketball Team is being purchased by the owners of the CEBL’s Calgary Surge. The team will stay in Saskatoon and play at a variety of venues around the city, plus neutral sites like Regina, P.A, etc., which is similar to what the Surge has done with a ton of success in and around Calgary. I don’t care for the name, logo and colour scheme change of the Rattlers – because I think they’re among the best in Canadian pro sport – but if you’re going to rebrand, this is the time to do it I guess.

9 – IN A JAM: A lady who used to work for the RP Show – based in Saskatoon – asked this summer how the WCBL’s Saskatoon Berries could be such a hit while the Rattlers have struggled to gain traction through seven years? It’s a helluva question but I’d suggest a few things: Cairns Field seats 2,200 while SaskTel Centre holds 15,000. The Berries sellout every game, however the Rattlers draw more. It just looks empty. Plus the Berries are under the umbrella of an ownership group which includes the Blades & Rush. Nobody even knows who owns the Rattlers. And of course, the best marketing is W-I-N. The Berries have had good playoff runs in their only years of existence while the Rattlers haven’t made the playoffs in ages. Just my two cents! Can’t wait to get back for Year 3 in the WCBL.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: “Consequence” is the language of the universe. … Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau did NOT break up. Fake News. … CBS colour analyst Tony Romo still knows what the offense is going to do pre-snap, but the defense still does not. … 7/11 wings are ridiculously good and only $3 for five of them. Mon dieu. … What happened to Walowitz? … A penny saved is a penny earned. … A Florida deputy captured a runaway emu this week and safely returned the large flightless bird to its home. A St. Johns County deputy responded Friday to a rural area west of St. Augustine following reports of the bird’s escape. The deputy attempted to secure the emu, but the bird kicked several times using its large talons and fled, authorities said. After a short chase, the deputy cornered the emu, secured it with a makeshift lasso and handcuffed its legs together to render the talons useless. Emus are native to Australia and can grow over 6 feet. They have soft, brown feathers, a long neck and long legs, which allow them to sprint up to 30 miles per hour. The emu was returned to its owners unharmed. No charges were filed. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,