THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. RIDER RETIREMENTS: Roughriders defensive end Chad Geter retiring on Monday to join the United States Air Force is just the tip of the iceberg. Expect at least another half dozen or so players quitting before training camp. Nothing pushes an athlete into retirement like being forced to find another occupation during a year away from the gridiron. Even so, Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Craig Dickenson very aptly reminded us all during last week’s media briefing that we are about to see the combination of not only two draft classes of Canadian talent but also two neg list classes of American talent colliding at training camp in August. A lot of retirements + a lot of hungry rookies + healed up bodies = massive competition and massive roster turnover. The entire league, not just the Riders, will have a much different look with a record number of rookies come opening day.

2. DICKENSON A MEDIA DARLING: As a fan in my 30^th season following the Riders, I’ve observed no less than twelve different head coaches. Some were really good with the media and some were not. I honestly cannot recall a coach who interacts with the reporters and the fans better than the guy at the controls right now. Craig Dickenson gives you the vibe that he’s actually having fun at work, is someone you could have a beer with and is legitimately excited to be coming back to Regina again. Public relations isn’t the only thing that matters when judging a coach or even the most important. But as we learned from Don Matthews and Chris Jones along the way, who both proved they could build a winner here, wins and losses aren’t the only thing we care about, either. Having a leader you want to root for makes winning just a little more special for not only the players but the fans, too.  

3. MEDIA SCRUMS: Sat in on last week’s media briefing for 3DownNation and realized just how much I miss being close to the action. In a previous life when I did this kind of thing fulltime, I grew to dread the daily mundane cliché questions and answers. Not anymore. Where else would any of us rather be than talking sports?

4. MY GREY CUP PICK: Montreal Alouettes are locked in and so is their quarterback. Vernon Adams is a man on a mission and playing in an unusually tough eastern division will harden them just enough to bring it home in November. Not a homer pick, but I’m sticking to it.

5. ISLANDERS-TAMPA SERIES: COVID has been really good to the Tampa sports fan. They can have it. I want my team to contend when we can all be in the building and feel like sports really is life and death, again.

6. HABS-VEGAS SERIES: If this turns into a Vegas vs Tampa final, count me out. Barf! I might even flip over to the NBA finals if that happens.

7. DID YOU KNOW?: In the glorious 20-year-history of the Western Major Baseball League/Western Canada Baseball League, there have been only three triple crown winners as a hitter or pitcher. All three of them, Mitch MacDonald in 2010, Daniel Jones in 2012 and Michael Batten in 2019 did it as members of the Regina Red Sox. We just discovered that Jones and Batten have never met despite living and working just a few miles away from each other in the Tampa Bay area. If we set them with tickets to a Lightning game, I suspect those two would have a lot to talk about.   

8. POLITICIANS RAILING ON EACH OTHER: Sorry, you’re not going to hear it from me. Rightly or wrongly, I give them all a pass. Not a time for partisan bickering. At least not yet.

9. WAYNE GRETZKY’S RESTAURANT: Disappointed but not surprised to find out that Wayne Gretzky’s in Toronto has been shuttered for yet another downtown condo development. I remember hanging around there on Grey Cup weekend in 2016 and learning how Wayne’s dad Walter lived to hang around that place, especially on Maple Leaf game days. At the time I wondered if Wayne got Walter to do it just to bring in more business. Through a more thorough lens in which we are able to view the world today, I now realize that Wayne could have made a fortune in bulldozing that place years ago but likely kept it going so that Walter could keep hanging out there and interact with the locals. Pretty cool of Wayne to love his dad that much and even cooler of Walter to love people that much.  

10. GREAT TV VIEWING: SASK SUMMER SIM is coming to an Access Now TV channel near you real soon. We are set to debut the 2021 season on June 30^th at 7pm when the Regina Red Sox tangle with the Moose Jaw Miller Express. Sitting around talking ball, doing interviews and watching MLB legends like Ken Griffey JR, Reggie Jackson and Joe Carter, among others, wearing jerseys for Regina, Moose Jaw, Weyburn, Swift Current, Yorkton and Melville made me realize just how much I miss being at the ballpark. I hope it will do that for you to.    

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)