THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1.  WHY FOUR DOWNS WOULD BE A MISTAKE: The chatter about the CFL adding a down just won’t seem to go away. This would be a quagmire for numerous reasons, not the least of which would make the game boring. Offences will become more dink and dunk with short yardage and vanilla, making possessions longer and ultimately, reduce scoring. This is just a bad idea all-around and the league office should just stop listening to it all together. CFL offences need a chance to normalize in the post-covid world before we start to judge.

2. ARGOS COULD FOLLOW ELKS LEAD: After cleaning house and bringing back Chris Jones, the Edmonton Elks next big step to address the embarrassingly low crowds they had in 2021 was to unveil $99 season tickets. The team says it drove the biggest single-day season ticket sale in franchise history but have not given us any concrete numbers to back that up. Still, it speaks to the need for the CFL to acknowledge that TV money and revenue sharing have strengthened the league in ways it never used to, it has also given people less reason to come to the park. They need to mitigate that by doing stuff like this. The Argos seem to have given up on selling upper deck tickets at BMO Field. There is no reason they can’t peddle those seats for $5 apiece. That alone will get people’s attention and drive beer and concession sales. But above all else, make the product look lively again! It’s a great game but as Toronto Star writer Damien Cox recently pointed out, “You’ve got to get people there!”

3. MOST IMPORTANT NEED IN CFL CBA: Before I hear arguing about bogus rule changes or more money for the players or even the coaches, I had better hear about what they’re going to do to avoid repeat Jonathan Hefney situations. Just google him if you don’t know his story. Players, especially the Americans, need better medical benefits to transition into post-football life. That and pension contributions should be a much bigger concern for the CFL Players Association than fighting over rule changes or a few extra dollars in salaries.  

4. MOST IMPORTANT NEED IN BASEBALL CBA: Bring on the pitch clocks. Pitchers will hate it and so will some traditionalists but others will remember that baseball games used to be over in two and a half hours. Wouldn’t that be great again?!  

5. HERO AT THE BRIER: Darren Moulding is getting attention everywhere he goes in Lethbridge as the 3^rdon Jimmy Grattan’s New Brunswick team. You might recall Moulding was unceremoniously dumped from getting the chance to defend the brier title he helped win after the olympic trials in Saskatoon back in the fall. Curling could use a bit of drama like this and it has it. So great to see a packed house on TV at a curling game again Saturday night. Another sign that the world, here at home anyway, is returning to how it should be.  

6. ZERO AT THE BRIER: Brendan Bottcher. I’m sure he had good reasons to dump Moulding from Team Canada and his teammates might even be using Bottcher as a shield. But still, not good enough to deny someone their rightful opportunity to defend the championship they earned. Very classless, poor leadership. 

7. ESTEVAN BRUINS LEAD THE SJ: My Estevan Bruins clinched first overall in the SJHL over the weekend for the first time since I last broadcast an SJHL game in 2005. I told some of the alumni I didn’t realize how good that team was until I showed up in Windsor, Ontario to work with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires that fall when I concluded that at least 5 or 6 players on the Spitfire roster would have had a rough time cracking that Bruin squad. Back then, I preferred the SJ’s approach to recruiting young adults instead of the WHL’s approach of playing kids in grade 10, 11 and 12. My thoughts on that haven’t changed but that might be due to the fact I’m stubborn and unwilling to change.

8. THIS WEEK I’M NOT JEALOUS OF: Trump-loving Putin apologists.Former American Vice-President Mike Pence raised eyebrows over the weekend with a swipe at his old boss, Donald Trump. Pence reportedly told republican donors there is “no room in (the Republican) party for apologists for Putin”. While it remains to be seen if the establishment of the GOP successfully executes this opportunity to rid themselves of Trump, it did provoke this thought: Why do voters want a “conqueror” so bad? Whatever happened to voting for someone because they were a “nice guy” or “nice gal”?   

9. HIGH GAS PRICES: According to NBC, 80% of Americans are willing to pay more at the pumps if it means they get to punish Russia for this garbage their leadership is putting those poor Ukrainians through. It’s moments like these that remind me of my respect for our American friends. If we don’t have a civilized world, our money isn’t good for much, anyways. I realize not everyone can afford to pay higher gas prices at the pumps or for food or everything else that comes with it and I’m sympathetic toward that. But as long as I can afford it, that extra dollar per litre or whatever it is I have to pay for as long as it takes is money well spent to bankrupt Putin and his cronies. And maybe, just maybe, someone in the Kremlin will finally stand up to this lunatic and put a stop to this nonsense. 

10. MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Glued to the NetFlix series Pam & Tommy all about that sex tape of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee from the 90s. Episode 6 even has some sweet CFL stuff in there, although as JC Abbott of 3 Down Nation pointed out, it is riddled with factual errors. Still, a funny mini-series with lots of Canadian content.