THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. CORONAVIRUS REMINDS US WHY WE NEED LOCAL SPORTS: We have all the games on TV and live betting that we could possibly want right now. And yet, somehow, it isn’t nearly enough. We, well I anyways, miss being at the games and being entertained live on location. We miss visiting with friends and coworkers and we miss checking out the crowd over a drink at the park on night’s that end in “Y”. We miss the excitement of a playoff run and we miss the juice of hearing the hecklers and players get into it with each other. For years, we’ve been taking local live sports for granted. Not anymore. Not after this.

2. OTHER LEAGUES NEED CHANGE MORE THAN CFL: I keep hearing comments from different people, even my own family, about silly ideas to help the CFL survive. Less Canadian players was one suggestion. More Instagram followers was another. Does anyone actually believe the CFL would’ve been any better off through COVID if it had done any of those things? I didn’t think so. It’s as if people are searching hard for answers to non-existent problems. How bout this? Wait for the pandemic to be over and the CFL, like a lot of other businesses struggling right now, will be just fine. Make sense?  

3. REGINA RED SOX NOT THE ONLY ONE IN NEED OF NEW PARK: This is the perfect chance for cities around Saskatchewan to have and keep big league ball in their own backyard. The Western Canada Baseball League is NOT beer league baseball as some cities have chosen to treat it. If you were a resident of Weyburn or Moose Jaw, would you not want something to get excited about in the summer months? Wouldn’t you want high-level baseball to go along with high level hockey in the winter? I feel like we’re on the verge of a baseball renaissance in this province but only for cities who want it and actually understand what it could be. Yorkton has made it clear they have a defeatist mentality with no strength, no ideas and no spirit. Hopefully, the locals in Regina, Weyburn and Moose Jaw have a little more enthusiasm than that. When you treat it big league, it becomes big league.

4. BLUE JAYS SHOULD FINISH SEASON IN BUFFALO: Not just because it’s about to get stinking hot in Dunedin, either. As the State of New York gets vaccinated, and Ontario suffers through unspeakable tragedy with their ICU spaces, Buffalo seems like a perfect landing spot for the Jays. It would be a great reward to the people of Buffalo to let them have their own major league team in a pennant race, even if it’s only for one season where the fans can actually be in the stands. The Blue Jays would be smart to not only lock down that marketplace as part of its own, but also test the waters of a possible temporary place to play down the road, should they need it for demolition and reconstruction of the Skydome (Rogers Centre). The current location of where the Jays play is second to none and so it would be tough for the Jays to ever make wholesale improvements without an alternate site, like Buffalo, to play for a couple of years.

5. FANS AT THE GAME IMPACT BROADCAST NUMBERS: There was supposed to be all this pent-up demand to watch games on TV, but the ratings haven’t really picked up in this crisis, and in fact, have even softened in a lot of cases. More proof that fans actually going to the park or arena and engaging in your product is what drives the bus more than anything.

6. COVID CRISIS WILL PRESENT GREAT FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES: Gate revenues are becoming less and less dominant in professional sport and COVID is only more evidence of that. All major professional sports leagues will be looking for a big cash injection in the next few years to cover their losses from the past year and change. Expansion and relocation fees will be the order of the day. Any city that wants a Major League Baseball or NHL team will get its chance if it really wants it in the very near future. The NHL used to demand a 17,000 seat stadium, then 16,000, now 15,000 and going forward, it will probably be even less that’s required to get your foot in the door. Suddenly, the thought of a new downtown arena in Saskatoon looks a lot more interesting.   

7. WHEN WILL THIS ALL END?: The Fall is when we should be at Herd Immunity (if there is such a thing with this stupid virus) and I expect life to be back to normal by September at the latest. Hockey season will finally go ahead as it’s supposed to. Mark my words. It’ll make the chilly autumn weather seem not so bad.

8. WHY THE SPORTS INDUSTRY HASN’T LOBBIED FOR ITSELF: What is there to lobby for? We’re in a public health emergency. I suspect many of these outfits recognize that it would be unpopular for them to lobby hard for a return-to-play. But I think the majority don’t lobby because they recognize that sports can wait and some things, like ICU capacity, are just little more important.

9. DOUG FLUTIE CFL VIDEO GAME: Sad to read that David Winter, the creater of Doug Flutie’s Maximum Football, is throwing in the towel. I’ve had periodic discussions with David going back 20 years and applaud his tireless efforts to make something great for Canadian football fans. I even had discussions with David about doing voice-overs for the game (my idea, not his) and his enthusiasm has always been evident. I hope someone pays him a good dollar to buy his life’s work. Shame on the CFL owners for never working with this guy or even encouraging him to make his product great. Then-Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge wanted the video game to be licensed. The owners decided they would rather sit on the rear-ends and wait for EA Sports to pay them a big contract. Because of course, we all know that’s right around the corner (sarcasm).

10. YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: My MLB Network obsession continues with MLB The Astrodome: The 8^th Wonder of the World. The story of how and why the Houston Astrodome came to be will explain much of how the last 50 years of indoor baseball and football has evolved the way it has.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)