THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. HUGHES A GOOD NON-SIGNING FOR RIDERS: A good piece in 3 Down Nation this week looking back on the Saskatchewan Roughriders decision to not re-sign defensive sack-star Charleston Hughes. Based on his age, if nothing else, there was plenty of reason to believe the now-38-year-old Charleston’s best before date had expired but that didn’t scare the Argos away from throwing loads of dough and a big signing bonus at him. The Riders backed away and their pass rush did just fine while Hughes was a bust in Toronto. The end. A decision made by Jeremy O’Day that clearly worked out. 

2. FAJARDO FREE AGENCY NO BIG DEAL: The Rider quarterback will be free to sign anywhere at the end of 2022, barring an extension being signed between now and then. This is good for the Roughriders because it keeps Cody hungry to prove himself and good for Cody because some NFL teams might still have interest in a 30-year-old gun-slinger as a backup and backups down there make decent money. Will be curious to see if the Roughriders offer a long-term extension after the new CBA is sorted out this spring or if they just let Cody ride this out to free agency.   

3. RIDERS NUMBER ONE FUNCTION THIS OFFSEASON SHOULD BE: Build around how to beat Winnipeg. After losing to them in the playoffs three years in a row, this needs to become an obsession for coach Craig Dickenson and GM Jeremy O’Day if it isn’t already. As much as it is always about other things like getting younger and building for November football, this year needs to be all how to beat the Bombers. This is becoming reminiscent of the Toronto Maple Leafs beating out the Ottawa Senators each time they met in the playoffs in the early 2000s and nothing would make the melon heads at Mosaic want to vomit worse than seeing the blue and gold hoisting the Cup in their backyard come November.    

4. TOUCHDOWN ATLANTIC: Would do the trip if I could and suspect some of you will. This is a great thing for the league to put on to give us all a little more variety and something to talk about. I’m glad they’ve shifted their focus from Moncton, New Brunswick to Halifax. Moncton is small, economically depressed and frankly, a dumb idea. Halifax is do-able if the locals get on board.

5. MARCH MADNESS: Great finish again. My bracket was busted by the sweet sixteen. Mike Toth, who I think of as Jay Onrait before Jay Onrait, once said he thought the CHL should try something like their own March madness to get TV audiences engaged. It’s an interesting idea but I’m skeptical the country would really catch onto it. The loss of the traditional playoff series would be a blow to those of us who understand and enjoy the animosity of a best-of seven. As Rod once said, the people who originally designed the format many years ago knew what they were doing, too.

6. THE BLUE JAYS: Everybody seems all in the Blue Jays these days and some publications have even picked them to win the hyper-competitive American League East. I’m just happy to have ball on the TV again. We need it this time of year more than ever as a reminder that spring is coming. 

7. THE REGINA RED SOX: Over the moon about this coming weekend’s dinner with Jon Ryan and Sarah Colonna at the Turvey Centre but even more over the moon about the chance to see some live ball again this summer. #isitmayyet? 

8. TOM BRADY’S UNRETIREMENT: A day late and a dollar short with this but I’ve put an enormous amount of thought into this since Tom told us he’s coming back. I’m happy to see him come back since he still seems to be at the top of his game. But the indecision and struggle to let go tells me something his dad predicted long ago: This will end badly. Tom will either stay at the top of his game and keep coming back over and over until a bad injury or embarrassing season derails it all. Either that or the whole thing will implode this year. There’s no great way for this to end and maybe that’s okay. Brett Favre needed one bad year to give him the closure he needed to walk away and I suspect Tom Brady will too. This does speak to the struggle athletes face when they’re so darn good. The longer you get to play, the harder it is to walk away. I expect post-football life for Tom will be excruciating. And that’s too bad.

9. CANADA CRACKS WORLD CUP OF SOCCER: CTV did a great piece about where the players are today who were on Canada’s last entry to the World Cup back in 1986. None of them look like athletes today and one of them is driving a bus for the city of Vancouver (I think that’s where he is). Hearing them talk about their glory days on the pitch is a good reminder of what sport is supposed to be. Great memories to carry us through our middle ages. 

10. BURKE’S LAW: Read Brian Burke’s biography cover-to-cover over the weekend. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I’ve encountered Brian on a couple of occasions including a late winter day in Estevan way back in 2005. The late great Ron Areshenkoff arranged to have Brian come to town and I got to chauffeur Burke around to all of his speaking events. Brian had just been let go by my Canucks and entertained me with tales of Mike Keenan, Pavel Bure and Pat Quinn as we cruised the streets of Estevan in an old minivan. The thing that stood out to me about Burkie then and still does today: Whether you’re the CEO of a billion-dollar corporation, the lowly broadcaster or the janitor, he gives you his undivided attention and makes you feel like the most important person in the room at that moment. How rare that is.