The Monday Morning Goalie For SUDS

TRUTH & RUMOURS FOR SUDS CAR WASH

1 – GOOD OL’ DAYS: The official attendance was listed at 31,757 for Saturday’s CFL Week 9 finale which saw the Saskatchewan Roughriders upend the Edmonton EE 28-26 in a classic, seesaw affair at Commonwealth Stadium. The teams split a summer home-and-home series with that result, and it leaves Edmonton at 6-2, while the Riders improved to 5-2. It feels like the race for first-place in the West Division is going to go right down to the wire! What made it such a classic? I’d suggest the performance of two veteran QBs (Saskatchewan’s Trevor Harris 239 yards, Edmonton’s Cody Fajardo 286 yards), plus the regular thrills and spills of missed field goals, questionable calls, and a last minute ending. … The big crowd certainly added to the fun, and I credit the social media push from influencers like Luke Willson and Chris Streveler to drive the hype. … Some US viewers asked me if Edmonton is distancing itself from the “Elks” name since the TSN announcers shunned the moniker on Saturday’s telecast in favour of “the Double E”. The honest answer? I have no idea.

2 – THE REST: The Calgary Stampeders started the season slow but improved to 4-4 with a 44-20 motorboating of the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton on Saturday. Stamps QB Vernon Adams threw his league-leading 21st TD in the win and is in M.O.P. form. Meanwhile Ticats coach Scott Milanovich says it’s “concerning” that Hamilton can’t find an adequate QB to replace the injured Bo Levi Mitchell as the Tabbies fell to 3-5. They’ve used Tre Ford, Jake Dolegala and now rookie Harrison Frost – aka “Frosty The Throwman” – who played over a half on Saturday, but still lost. … Montreal (7-1) beat Ottawa (0-7) by a 34-13 score Friday in the most predictable of Week 9 results. The football guys are wondering if first year RedBlacks head coach/GM Ryan Dinwiddie and his ST/Defensive Coordinator Jeff Reinebold regret going there. … And alarm bells are sounding in Winnipeg where the Blue Bombers lost 35-19 to BC at Princess Uh-Oh Stadium on Thursday. Lions rookie quarterback Kaidon Salter – making his first pro start and rushing for 160 yards – is being celebrated lustily on the west coast but I caution Lions fans to remember Jonathan Jennings. After being anointed “The Next One”, Jon was never heard from again. We’re still Facebook friends. … Meanwhile CFL fans refusing the rule changes remind me of myself, refusing to give up my Blackberry some 15 years ago. Narrow-minded, not progressive, and not with the times. It’s the same mindset. Glad I changed.

3 – WEEK 10: Can you feel it? Crowds are getting bigger, earlier than normal, and there’s a lot of chatter about the CFL across the land. Normally the stadiums don’t fill up till post Labour Day. Again, I credit the social and digital media chatter for this, and there’s already talk on this Sunday about Week 10. Here’s the schedule — Thursday: Calgary at Toronto, Friday: Ottawa at Saskatchewan, Saturday: Edmonton at Montreal, Hamilton at BC.

4 – NFL CAMPS: Are you enjoying Back Together Weekend? Oh, what is that you ask? Here’s a Google AI overview: “NFL Back Together Weekend takes place on August 1 and 2, 2026. All 32 NFL clubs host open practices and fan fests to kick off training camp, with live multi-network television coverage and reporting provided across ESPN and the Official NFL Website.” I don’t feel nearly as guilty parking my butt in front of the TV on a summer weekend to watch NFL Network coverage round-the-clock as I used to. Fortunately, I get summer year-round so I can watch the NFL pundits literally reporting from the sidelines all weekend, guilt-free. However NFL Radio’s Zig Fracassi pointed out on Twitter that the ESPN/NFL Network merger (for lack of a better term) is evident, whatwith the networks sharing talent and resources. Less jobs, less coverage, but the viewers don’t notice nor care till it’s too late.

5 – NFL NEWS: We’ve got some pretty darn good coverage of the NFL on The RP Show and when we talk about it, the viewer comments pop. 4-time Grey Cup champion football guy John Murphy is now on our show regularly and said the reason DT Aaron Donald isn’t in camp with the LA Rams – while he considers unretiring – is that he doesn’t need to be. Murph says when he’s back, he’ll be ready. … San Francisco and NFL national media are under the gun for coverage of 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s horrific car crash earlier this summer. When are people gonna realize we’re not allowed to report the real story anymore?? I often wonder how long this has been going on in the news media world. … The report from Dallas Cowboys training camp? Dak Prescott looks strong and the pressure is immense. Same story as every year. … Getting a kick out of Las Vegas Raiders training camp coverage where all the eyes and camera are on the #2 group, which is being quarterbacked by #1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. He looks sharp, they say. Meanwhile Kirk Cousins is running the 1s, and nobody’s watching. Hilarious!

6 – NHL: Fans and media get washed up with the signings but the players don’t really care. So Connor Bedard will make $15M per season on his new deal while Macklin Celebrini will make $18.8M? If you take a look at California income tax, Bedard will have more in the bank each month than his childhood rival in The Bay. … When Anaheim legend Ryan Getzlaf told me his take home salary after taxes while making $10M per season with the Ducks, my jaw hit the floor. This is why rich people are fleeing California in droves. … Nobody will say it, but I will: Congrats media and anti-US hockey fans — you drove Brady Tkachuk out of Ottawa. … Lost in the shuffle is the fact Regina’s Cole Sillinger signed a new three year deal with Columbus with an average annual value of $4.625M. Coverage of the signing said Cole’s from Columbus. No he’s not, but he was born there.

7 – MORE NHL: There are many, many reasons why I love spending the summer in Western Canada. One of them is that it’s all hockey, all the time, especially in Moose Jaw. On the new, yet surprisingly popular, podcast BleedOilBlue out of Edmonton this week, host Raffaele Pappianni asked me where I thought John Tortorella coaches next, or fellow former Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy? I suggested to look up the bottom five ranked teams for the 2026-27 season and start there: Vancouver, Calgary, Chicago, St. Louis or Seattle. Agree or disagree? … Regina Pats Memorial Cup champ Jon Hammond asked me over lunch at PumpJacks how I feel the Tkachuk brothers will fare in South Florida this season, and go over with the fans? I said they’re going to be a pair of wrecking balls, will fill Amerant Bank Arena nightly, and that the Panthers are the #1 favourite at Fanduel to win the Stanley Cup next spring. That was a quick rebuild…

8 – PODCASTS: That guy Raffaele went to NAIT broadcasting school 20 years ago, had a brief radio career before taking over his family plumbing business, then fired up this BleedOilBlue podcast and is getting thousands upon thousands of downloads. How’s that for a quick rebuild! The lesson: if it’s good, people will listen. They don’t care who you are. And that’s what’s crippling local radio and TV. It’s not good across the board. … Some of the biggest news of the week is the Columbus Blue Jackets dumping their radio broadcast crew in favour of simulcasting with the TV broadcast. It’s just a sign of the times. Want an inside look at the big league broadcast landscape? Guys and gals are looking over their shoulders every day. That’s a tough way to live.

9 – WE’RE THE MILLERS: History was made in several ways Sunday afternoon at Ross Wells Park in Moose Jaw. First, the Moose Jaw Miller Express beat the Weyburn Beavers 22-11 to claim their franchise record 39th win of the season, with four games to go. Second, Texas fireballer Westin Walls set a single season WCBL strikeout record (92) while teammate Thomas Soto won the game on a 3-run HR in the eighth inning, and broke his own single season runs scored record in the process (71). The playoffs begin Friday. We’ve come this far, so the Millers might as well win it! … Also, I really love the college age group of players. They’re a lot more mature than teenaged junior hockey players, yet not in the married-with-kids age bracket of the pros. Very mature, extremely focused, still impressionable and full of life. I love them, and apparently it shows. What an honour it is to be their broadcaster.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: How is Judge Judy worth $480M? … White teeth make you more attractive … There are A LOT of Burt Reynolds Trans-ams in Moose Jaw. Both black, and gold. … Why do Smart Cars look so dumb? … Repetition is the mother of mastery. … You can’t plant weeds and expect to get roses. … Nobody cares that you’re taking a social media break. You don’t need to announce it. … Impatience is destructive. … Will we ever get a toxicology report on Jayden Dalke? I’m thinking not. … Top dogs were riding waves Saturday at the annual World Dog Surfing Championships as hundreds of spectators cheered — and barked — from the Northern California beach. From small spaniels to large labs, the canines were judged on factors including how long they could stay on their board, the size of the wave and their confidence. In its 10th year, the contest in Pacifica, about 14 miles south of San Francisco, includes a pet adoption event and fundraising for local animal charities. Small-, medium- and large- sized dogs competed in heats and then the highest scoring dogs in each heat faced off for the top prize. Sophia Sadlowski first put her Miniature Pinscher, Rusty, on her surfboard to capture fun photos when he was just a puppy. “And then … he didn’t want to get off,” she said. “We put him in a competition and he took third place. So we’ve been surfing since,” Sadlowski said. “We got hooked.” … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,