THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE
1. WHAT TO DO ABOUT THOSE RUSSIANS: I hate leading with something non-sports related and wish we didn’t have to ever talk about this stuff at all. As much as I agonize over the fact we can’t seem to offer much help to our Ukrainian friends, I also realize we have people in Ottawa and Washington who understand the ramifications of war better than I ever will. But remember this: Russian hockey players in the NHL who haven’t supported this war are not the enemy. The Russian people are not the enemy. The head of the Russian government and the oligarchs who keep him in power ARE the enemy. I support banning Russian athletes from the Olympics, FIFA and IIHF. However, this ‘send them home’ mentality about Russian NHL players is over the line and would only bring that country together. One online commentator once suggested they would rather have Vladimir Putin heading our country than Justin Trudeau. Today, that same online commentator is suggesting we should send Alex Ovechkin home for his past support of that same Russian president. Enough of this lynch-mob mentality.
2. WHAT TO DO ABOUT THOSE RUSSIANS PART TWO: Both the oil lobby and the environmental lobby have a new cause to unite around: lessening our dependence on Russian oil. Boosting Canada’s oil capacity with pipelines in every direction will enable Europe and everyone else to isolate Russia with trade embargoes. Just like green initiatives to lower our reliance on oil, period, will help this cause too. If there’s anything we’ve been reminded of in the last week, Russia cannot be trusted. Some things never change.
3. GREY CUP PARTY CANADA’S GREAT UNIFIER: The Grey Cup party in November needs to go ahead full-blown in the worst way imaginable. Our country and quite frankly our league needs this more than ever.
4. RIDERS MOST IMPORTANT FREE AGENT: Brendon LaBatte. Even still to this day. Getting him back at guard would open more options for the green and white to solve their problems at outside tackle. The fact he hasn’t declared publicly that he’s NOT interested is encouraging news.
5. MASOLI AVOIDS CHRIS JONES: Been watching Behind the R on the Ottawa REDBLACKS YouTube channel where we learned about quarterback Jeremiah Masoli’s preference to sign with Ottawa over Edmonton. I see this as an indictment about how quarterbacks feel about Elks head coach Chris Jones. We already know there is bad blood between Cody Fajardo and Chris Jones despite the fact those two have never even crossed paths. Chris Jones did some great things in Regina but the quarterback position was always his downfall when he was here. This latest misfire in free agency just adds more questions to Jones’s ability to attract a decent QB.
6. NFL FRANCHISE VALUES SKYROCKETING GOOD FOR CFL: Estimates suggest the pending sale of the Denver Broncos will fetch upwards of 6 to 7 BILLION dollars. I’ll believe it when I see it but won’t rule it out, either. If it happens, it will push the price tag for Toronto’s NFL team much higher. If the NFL decides it needs say four billion dollars for an expansion fee, that will push the price tag to buy a team and build a stadium to nearly 10 billion dollars Canadian. With no government support (Canadian governments won’t touch that project with a 10-foot pole) the obstacles for Toronto’s NFL team are looking even more insurmountable. All great news for the Argos and the Canadian Football League.
7. WHAT HAS AMBROSIE DONE?: My wife asked me this the other day. He’s found filthy rich owners for Argos, Alouettes and BC Lions. All in the middle of the worst circumstances imaginable for the CFL. The next step will be to see if these owners have any vision for the league (The new guy in BC looks great) and treat it as something more than just a loss-leader (Argo owners don’t look so good in this area).
8. LINE OF THE WEEK: “I would prefer to live in precedented times!” Trevor Morin of Regina.
9. THIS WEEK I’M JEALOUS OF: My Vancouver Canucks for putting up a touchdown against Calgary wearing their spectacular 1990s throwbacks. Does anyone honestly like the whale, anyway?
10. MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Watched DOWNFALL: THE Case Against Boeing and their role in causing two fatal commercial airline crashes. A prime example of what happens when business thinks all about profits and gets careless with their quality. You’ll find it on NetFlix.
(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)
Good morning, 1) What to do about the Russians? How about nothing. It’s none of our beeswax, and while the virtue signalling about removing Russian items from shelves. Which is about 2 items as we are not set up to trade with them is a noble concept. When China takes over Taiwan we’ll see how far that move goes when everything imported here is from China. This is what happens over 20 years when you have wimpy Political leaders overseeing a milqutoast society. While you all couldn’t be “woke” enough, Mitt Romney warned about this in 2012. 2) Russia can’t… Read more »
Great post! Thank you!
Exactly Ambroise has found 3 very solid owners. No small task.
And Toronto will never come up with $10B for a franchise. Never
Chris Jones did not do “some great things in Regina”. The most lasting thing he did was kill a lot of Rider Pride with his constantly colouring outside the lines. In other words ‘cheating’ and people were ashamed of that and a lot of them haven’t came back. You don’t see near the green merchandise you did in Jim Hopson’s day.
But thanks for pointing out that no quarterback wants anything to do with him.
Totally agree! I went to the last game ever at (it will always be Taylor Field to me!) and Jones thumbed his nose at ALL of us……..by using it as a “training camp” game and not the slightest inclination to win it!! He sat Durant, obvious power struggle, it was JONES’ TEAM, and we got whooped by a BAD BC Lions team……..and didn’t even score a TD. He ran DD out of town (don’t care WHAT you think of DD, he was a damn good QB, and he never replaced him. I hated when Reynolds hired him, bad move, and… Read more »