THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. WHAT THE XFL CAN DO FOR CANADA: Damn near nothing. But it’s important to point out that all professional sports leagues, especially the CFL, are funded by the rich who do it for an adventure, not profit. The biggest misconception is that people get rich owning a sports team. Absolutely not true. You’ll notice anyone who owns a sports franchise is already rich before they get into it. The CFL needs to find more of these sugar daddies to not only prop up the struggling brands in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver but also inject some additional cash and new ideas. The XFL has access to plenty of those sugar daddies and it could create some really good connections for the CFL office. Many CFL fans know Bob Wetenhall saved the Montreal Alouettes by bankrolling them for 20 years. What most people don’t know is that he was found by Baltimore Stallions/Alouettes owner Jim Speros through his American connections. One of the few jackpots discovered by the CFL’s otherwise ill-fated expansion into the U.S.

2. THE ROCK’S REAL MOTIVATION: He’s all about image and showing off. Still holds a grudge at Wally Buono and the CFL for cutting him some 26 years ago at Calgary Stampeder training camp. Now he wants to brag about controlling the league. Good for him. The CFL should be careful and not get suckered in to taking the bait. As David Braley’s son so perfectly described this setup with the XFL over the last few days, “Big hat, no cattle”.

3. ONE IDEA THE CFL SHOULD STEAL: The 3-point convert. I watched it in the limited XFL play we saw last year and it was brilliant. Leave the 1 and 2-point converts unchanged, but add the option to go for a 3-point convert from the 10-yard-line as well. That would make our games just that much better and jump ahead of the NFL with that one, too.

4. TIME TO SET WEEK ONE KICKOFF: Announce it for Labour Day weekend. Get moving. Make it conditional on Federal government funding if you have to but let’s see some action here.

5. WHERE THE CFL COMMISH ACTUALLY IS FAILING: He didn’t create the pandemic and deserves none of the blame for missing a 2020 season. However, Randy Ambrosie continues to focus on initiatives to grow the game outside of Canada. That tells me Randy doesn’t think there’s any room to grow the CFL IN Canada. He’s dead-wrong. Where’s the strategy to engage new Canadians in three-down football? Still haven’t seen it. In other words: Quit wasting everyone’s time on trying to grow the game in other countries and spend more time on growing the game in Canada, Randy. Remember, we play in CANADA. This is the CANADIAN Football League. I was never David Braley’s biggest fan but he was so right about this. He got out of the league in the early 90’s over their U.S. expansion plans only to return after that all went away. He was right to object to that bush-league experiment. I knew his loss would be big to the CFL. I just didn’t think his loss would be so big so fast.

6. THE BEST BRIER EVER: I’m probably exaggerating. But the combination of elite skips, storylines, variety of teams and chance to actually watch a real Canadian sporting event again was magical. After losing in the finals 3 years in a row, including the last two to Brad Gushue, Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher was in the zone and wouldn’t be denied. As he built a 6-0 lead en route to eliminating Gushue on Saturday night, the scowl on Bottcher’s face gave anyone watching the impression that he could’ve been leading that game 15-0 and wouldn’t have let up. In sport, as in life, it’s usually all about who wants it more? It was clearly Bottcher and his team this time around. Who’s next in line? It feels like Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone is knocking at the door but dethroning that Bottcher crew is going to be one helluva hill to climb. Feels like we’re in a golden age of Canadian curling.

7. THE WHEAT SHEAF: Noticed it on the Saskatchewan curling team uniforms at the Brier. Was glad to see it. I absolutely love that logo. It’s one of the finest pieces of art anywhere in the world. It still sticks in my craw that the provincial government switched the Province of Saskatchewan’s logo from the wheat sheaf to what it is now. I still cringe when I look at that stupid drawing of the rectangle with the arrow pointing up through it.

8. BERNIE LYNCH UPDATE: Since I wrote about the junior hockey coach under investigation, I’ve had several readers reach out to me with stories that have raised suspicion about who knew what involving Bernie Lynch’s past right here in Saskatchewan. I was notified the Humboldt Broncos had fired Bernie right before the playoffs in the 1980’s under some very bizarre circumstances. The big question now is, who knew what? And when? And why wasn’t more done to alert teams who kept hiring this guy to keep him away from other kids? The work doesn’t end when you get rid of a predator posing as a coach from your organization. It’s only the beginning to ensure that same predator doesn’t cause the same problems someplace else. Someone knew something and did nothing about it. There’s no way around it. The hockey community should be embarrassed.    

9. PODCASTING: Spent the weekend listening to Toronto Mike, The Bob McCown Podcast and of course, The Rod Pedersen Show. It was all fantastic and probably the most enjoyable podcast listening I’ve done in years. Then it occurred to me that podcasting really has turned a corner. For years, podcasters have struggled to find an audience in competition with the resources of the well-oiled coffers of Mainstream Media. Slowly but surely, that appears to be changing. If you’re ever wondering why traditional talk radio companies are losing market share to the podcasters, it’s because the podcasters, doing stuff from their basement a lot of the time, are just better quality. Take the shackles off and the true magic happens. 

10. BOOK OF THE WEEK: One of the great memories from my field of dreams came in early 2005 when I had the good fortune of MCing the Estevan Bruins Sportsman’s Dinner. The late great Ron Areshenkoff, a rookie teammate of Gretzky’s in the Oilers first year of NHL existence, and longtime Estevan community rock star invited me down to the Beefeater Inn to meet his good pal who he convinced to come to Estevan for free, Brian Burke. Burkie swore at me for asking if it was Harvard or Yale he went to which made me a little nervous. Then Ron handed me the keys to the shuttle for Brian to get around from event to event throughout the day and asked if I would mind driving him around. Being the nearly life-long Canuck fan that I am, I was like a kid at Christmas quizzing Brian about everything from Mike Keenan to Pavel Bure to the lockout which had just killed that NHL season. He didn’t hold back, especially when it came to Keenan. BURKE’S LAW, A LIFE IN HOCKEY sounds to me like a must read, especially fitting for a time he’s getting back into the NHL. I’ve already read the first chapter and predictably, it’s hilarious.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @Stack1975)