THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. THE SCOTTIES: I totally get why the popularity of the sport is exploding. Curling features more strategy than any of the main five of hockey, football, baseball, basketball and soccer. But above all, the athletes are regular people we can identify with. I almost feel like turning them into fulltime pros ruins the whole thing. It’s great that some of them can earn a living from playing the sport but that will only last so long. Then what?  

2. TELEMIRACLE: Each year I feel like it’s almost my responsibility to watch for a bit until I quickly realize the entertainment is off-the-charts and I end up glued to it for hours. We’re so lucky to have the great performers and I hope they never get rid of the scrolling names across the screen. Saskatchewan’s best concert. I remember the greatest half-time show ever was Grey Cup ’95 and instead of any real big famous headliners, it was Brad Johner and a bunch of volunteers performing. Telemiracle reminds me of that awesome display every year.  

3. WHAT COVID HAS TAUGHT US SPORTS FANS: Let’s maybe appreciate that next pickup hockey game and chance to have a beer with our pals after. Let’s enjoy being at the rink and the park and the ball diamond again instead of burying our heads in our phones. Maybe when this is done, we can appreciate being allowed to go the gym to sweat out some bad stuff instead of finding excuses to stay home. Maybe we won’t take all this stuff for granted, anymore.  

4. MISSING THE SJHL: Flin Flon broadcaster, and one helluva game-caller, Rob Hart and I had a nice online visit the other day (as if there’s any other way to visit these days). He asked if I missed broadcasting hockey games. Hmm. Kind of a loaded question for me. In a previous life, it was all I ever wanted to do. Now, I’m a little older and grayer and it’s not quite so important. Though I still haven’t replaced the rush of it all. Especially radio where it really takes on its greatest art form that cannot be duplicated on TV. I don’t miss the sport because too many of the games are boring right now. I do miss the SJHL. I spent three years in Estevan waiting to move up to the WHL and ended up moving to Ontario to broadcast Windsor Spitfire games for a startup FM station in the summer of 2005. I quickly realized that players and coaches in the OHL or WHL see it as a stepping stone to somewhere bigger. Most of them never make it any higher but still treat it that way. SJHL players and coaches and personnel treat that league like it IS THEIR NHL. Just very down to earth and less political than those other leagues. So, I miss hockey broadcasting a little because the crew at Access Communications for the Pat games was/is amazing but I miss the SJHL a whole lot and wouldn’t trade those years for anything in the world.

5. MY MEDICINE HAT INTERVIEW: In the summer of 2004, not long before my move to Windsor, I stopped in the Hat to interview for an open sports broadcast job at CHAT-TV and radio. Sports Director/Medicine Hat Tiger broadcaster/team bus driver Bob Ridley was about three and a half decades into it and told me that someone would need to replace him soon as he would need to step back eventually, suggesting that person could be me. I remember thinking “Pfft, could you imagine trying to fill that guy’s shoes?” Then I realized Bob couldn’t leave the Tigers anytime soon. Fast forward 17 years to the other night when Bob broadcast his 4,000th game. Those old broadcasters will do it until they die. And there’s something pretty awesome about that.

6. SPRING TRAINING: Great to see some ball on TV again Sunday when the Blue Jays and Yankees opened up Grapefruit League action. Still wish they would keep using those pitch clocks like they did the last couple years but this time actually enforce them. The average 9-inning game should last about 2 hours and 30 minutes. They need to shave about a half hour off as is.

7. WHAT BASEBALL IS MISSING THE MOST: Pennant races. Remember when the regular season used to really mean something? And I’m not just talking about the Majors either. I would love to see the Western Canada Baseball League take this on too. Like let the 2-3 seeds play a wild-card game but the division winner is the pennant winner and gets the upper hand in the playoffs. If you want to know what sticks in my craw worse than over-analytics and games that are too long? That’s it right there. Time to bring back the pennant races.

8. OLD RIDER COACHES: A reader to this blog and I chatted about how surprised we are that Kent Austin’s coaching career never really did take off in the way we thought it would after he won the Grey Cup and Coach of the Year award in his only season as Roughrider Head Coach in 2007. And then another thought-provoking question emerged, “How is Danny Barrett in the NFL and Kent Austin is not?”. Hmm. Different people thrive in different situations I guess.

9. MINIMUM CFL SEASON: I think it needs to be at least 10 games or I wouldn’t even bother. Even if they have to stretch it out into a December Grey Cup like they used to do in 1960’s, I’m all for it. One year away from the gridiron is no big deal. Two years could turn into a bloody catastrophe.

10. HE SAID IT: “I’m not going to fight with anybody about it, but if anyone looks at the CFL and seriously thinks that TSN’s commitment as a broadcast partner is a legitimate issue, they need to give their head a shake. Their coverage is so far above-and-beyond what it needs to be.” – Calgary Sun sportswriter Danny Austin taking what many of us believe to be a veiled shot at Winnipeg Blue Bomber legendary broadcaster Bob Irving for criticizing TSN for hyping up NFL free agent signings over the CFL.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)