THE MONDAY MORNING GOALIE
I HATE THE OFF-SEASON!
1 – THE COUNTDOWN IS ON: Seven days until the start of 2017 Saskatchewan Roughriders Training Camp Presented by Coors Light at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon. Sure, the winter vacations are nice and so is the extra time to myself in the mornings but enough’s enough!
My bread and butter is the Saskatchewan Roughriders and in less than a week’s time, the chase begins again.
Until then, I’m sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting to head north to the Bridge City. In the meantime, we’re planning podcasts, livestreams, etc for the season.
2 – OTHER RIDER NOTES: We’ll have 21 monotonous days to pick apart the positional battles and who’s ahead of whom at training camp. Until then, there are a lot of other things related to the Riders that we can pass on. For one, former Roughrider receiver Rob Bresciani has been voted in as the President of the Saskatchewan Roughriders Alumni Association. The former Roughrider and Stampeder receiver succeeds Terry Bulych.
Vice Presidents are Greg Fieger, Belton Johnson and Rob Pyne. The Rider Alumni is holding a golf tournament in Saskatoon in June and the SportsCage will be broadcasting live from the event. Contact your local Rider alumni for details or to enter a team.
3 – RIDER FAMILY LOSES ANOTHER: 92-year old Rider fan Paul Ronald Hebert passed away last week in Regina. Ron worked at the Co-op Refinery for 45 years and was a Roughrider season ticket holder for 67 years. SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS! He also enjoyed lawn bowling and playing bridge. Mr. Hebert’s Funeral Mass was held on Wednesday.
There’s a man who truly saw it all when it comes to the Green & White. This franchise has been through FARRRRR worse times than it’s currently in and Ron Hebert saw it all. (And still bought his season tickets).
4 – GREEN IS THE COLOUR: In 2017 the Saskatchewan Roughriders Pep Band is celebrating 25 years. (I could’ve sworn they’ve been around longer). Anyway, the Pep Band is having a celebration on July 7 at the Eagles Club and it should be a raucous affair. The band has had 257 members over its 25 years! For tickets, email riderpepband@accesscomm.ca. The Pep Band will also be honoured by the Riders at halftime of the July 8 game.
5 – WHAT ABOUT ANDY?: On Thursday the Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced they’ve hired Andy Fantuz to a front office position entitled “Player Development”. That all seemed cool except for the fact the Ticats and Fantuz expect to see him back on the field once his injured knee is healed. Until then, his salary from the front office won’t go towards the team’s salary cap.
This has fans and other teams crying afoul and it was the hottest topic in the CFL late last week. However to me, it needn’t be. Even if Fantuz was on the 6-game Injured List, his salary would’ve been exempt from the cap.
This way, he can now legally practice with the Ticats as a “staff member” but he would’ve been barred from practicing with the club while on the Injured List.
CKRM football analyst Luc Mullinder called the move by the Ticats, “Genuis!”
Others in the CFL are saying, “What’s from stopping us from hiring 30 player development coordinators rather than stashing players on the Injured List?”
Go ahead and try it. The Ticats only did it with one player, and he’s a future Hall of Famer.
And as CFL’s Senior V.P. of Football Glen Johnson said on Friday’s SportsCage, “Everything the Ticats did here is legal. No rules have been broken. And, they’ve taken care of a player who’s been a big name is this league and served the CFL well.”
Case closed.
6 – ROASTED TBIRDS: The Windsor Spitfires tied a Memorial Cup record by scoring three goals in 38 seconds in a 7-1 romp over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Sunday. My only question for Seattle is, “How does it feel?”
The TBirds had a penchant for doing the exact same thing to the Regina Pats in the WHL Finals.
And because of Windsor’s performance – and Seattle’s loss to the Erie Otters on Saturday – I have a tough time believing the Regina Pats would’ve put up any more fight than the Thunderbirds have at the 2017 Memorial Cup.
One more loss in Windsor, and the Thunderbirds can go home.
It tells me the Regina Pats need to be much more fortified as the host team for the 2018 Memorial Cup.
7 – PLAY IT AGAIN SAM: 18-year old forward Sam Steel has joined the Anaheim Ducks for the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I’m told there’s an outside chance that the Pats phenom may actually dress for one of these playoff games however, for now, he’s simply traveling with the club and watching from the press box. He’s likely practicing with him too.
What an experience for Sam!
8 – THE WONG MAN FOR THE JOB: Congratulations to former Lethbridge Hurricanes captain Tyler Wong for signing a contract with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves last week. Nobody deserves it more than him! If you noticed during the Pats-Hurricanes second round WHL series, Wong was the smallest player on the ice but he worked the hardest and had the most heart.
What a lesson for any player who’s been told he or she is too small. Wong may end up in the NHL one day.
9 – FACEBOOK POLL: I love these Facebook polls that are going around like: 9 concerts I’ve seen and 1 lie, or the latest, My Favourite Player In Each Sport. Here are mine:
NFL – Troy Aikman
CFL – Jeff Fairholm
NHL – Mike Modano
NBA – Dan Majerle
MLB – Roberto Alomar
Boxing – Mike Tyson
Wrestler – “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff
Golf – John Daly
Skiing – Steve Podborski
Motorsports – Ricky Bobby
What are yours?
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| Bill Burr or CFL blogger Kelly Bale? |
10 – BURR UNDER THE SADDLE: One of my biggest pet peeves is people who say there’s nothing to do in Regina. On Saturday night, comedian Bill Burr thrilled the audience of two shows at the Conexus Art Centre. For those who don’t know, Burr was just named the 17th top comic on Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 50 Comedians of all-time!
His one hour set was raunchy, but obviously very funny. I’m not sure it would rate him 17th all-time however I’m no stand-up expert.
All in all, it was a great way to spend a Saturday evening.
Tickets were reasonably priced but the theatre was only half full. There’s world class entertainment coming through the Queen City but a lot of people don’t want to take the time to enjoy it or even search it out.
Too bad. Their loss!
ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR WEEKEND
RP
@rodpedersen
IG: rodpedersenofficial
SC: Pedersenmedia
