THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. CODY FAJARDO IS RYAN SMYTH: Oilers GM Kevin Lowe once upon a time had to justify to the world why he chose not to offer CAPTAIN CANADA superstar money to stay in Edmonton. Lowe stuck with the talking point of, “He’s a very good player but not an elite player.” Kevin was right about Ryan Smyth and so was Milt Stegall about Cody Fajardo. A very good player, yes. An elite player or superstar, no. He’s an exciting player who is perfect for this market and better than any other options out there but that’s also partly due to the fact we’re living in a down era for CFL quarterbacks. That could change with the emergence of BC’s Nathan Rourke, who I’ll get to a little bit later.  

2. ROUGHRIDER FIRST HALF MVP: I know Most Valuable Player awards don’t exist in the CFL because we have Most Outstanding Player awards instead and that’s okay. But I’m picking my own MVP over the first 9 games anyway. Centre Dan Clark. If we didn’t know how much #67 meant to the Riders before he went down in week two, we do now.

3. CRUMMY EDMONTON FANS: In the 90’s when the entire league was constantly on death’s doorstep, Edmonton was always the island of prosperity surrounded by insanity. Not anymore. They had good teams back then and it’s really not that hard to be a fan when your team is winning. A real fan sticks with their team through thick and thin. I’m not seeing much of that in Edmonton. They’re a good organization making the right decisions during some tough times deserve better support each week then they’re getting. Sorry but I don’t put Edmonton fans into the same category as Rider fans. Not by a longshot.   

4. PYRAMIDING CALL AGAINST THE ELKS TOTAL BS: The Riders benefited from it but what a bogus call in the final 2:08 of Saturday’s game that unfairly sunk the Elks battleship. When Brett Lauther kicked a 23-yard-field-goal, Edmonton linebacker Matthew Thomas was called for pyramiding for daring to leap over one Saskatchewan’s blockers to try and block the kick. That was kind of important since the Elks should have had 2 minutes to try and drive 70 yards for the game-tying or maybe even game winning touchdown if Chris Jones went for two, which he might’ve. Instead, we get the Roughriders milk the clock down and turn it into an insurmountable two-possession game. Now I highly doubt Taylor Cornelius (or Cornflake as 3 Down Nation’s Justin Dunk calls him) would’ve engineered any remarkable game-winning drive anyway but it sure would’ve been fun to see him try. These refs need to err on the side of caution by not throwing the flag when it’s not clear and obvious.  

5. CFL SHOULD LET LIONS BEND RULES TO KEEP ROURKE: If BC owner Amar Doman wants to spend some money and lock Nathan Rourke down to a multi-year deal, the league should help him. Remember the marquee player exemption? It was brought in to help the Toronto Argonauts sign Rocket Ismail without running afoul of the salary cap. It nearly bankrupted the league. This isn’t something the league should bring back the way it was set up back then but if the Lions want to submit a proposal for an exemption like that on Nathan Rourke, the league shouldn’t stand in their way. Keeping Nathan Rourke for another 3 or 4 years would be great for the Canadian Football League and it sounds their owner could afford it and just might be willing to do it.  

6. REGINA RED SOX SEASON: Congratulations to retiring Sox GM Bernie Eiswirth on a fantastic 18-year-run. Nobody on god’s green earth loves the Regina Red Sox more than Bernie and I’m not sure too many people on this earth love their team anywhere more than Bernie does the Sox. His smile at the ballpark was a big reason so many volunteers like myself and others have felt like every day at Currie Field is a Saturday. Shaq-sized shoes to fill, for sure. Hopefully Bernie’s agent will consider allowing us to sign him to the broadcast crew next year. Stay tuned.    

7. WCBL FINALS: Congratulations to the Moose Jaw Miller Express for their come-from-behind series win over the Medicine Hat Mavericks to advance to the championship round vs Okotoks. I was glued to Sunday night’s webcast on YouTube and thrilled to see Moose Jaw get a swing at their first league championship since 2002. The Calgary Flames celebrated the Oiler Stanley Cups in the 80s whenever Calgary won the season series. The Regina Red Sox can do the same if the Millers win it all this time. Regina took 6 of the 11 head-to-head meetings.   

8. REAL REASON WHY MONTREAL EXPOS DON’T EXIST: There are few sports-related things that occupy my mind more on a daily basis then why the Montreal Expos cease to exist. Sometimes the fans get blamed. Sometimes it’s major league baseball and other times the finger gets pointed at politicians in that part of the country. The reality is that none of those people deserve the blame. It really lies at the feet of the Montreal business community and its defeatist attitude. The public has said a resounding “no” to public financing and major league baseball has said “no” to that ridiculously impossible idea of sharing the Tampa Bay Rays for half a season. Rather than crying the blues as we’ve heard Stephen Bronfman (son of Expo founder Charles Bronfman) do, people should be asking what is he or any one of the millionaires and billionaires who make up Montreal’s very large business community doing to figure out their own plan to build their own stadium and rent it out to a franchise like the Rays to become the Montreal Expos full time? As near as I can tell, absolutely nothing or close to nothing. It’s disappointing for me and for French Canadians but really all Canadians. Some of us are tired of Rogers and would maybe like another option besides the Blue Jays. This prospective Expos ownership group pretends to love baseball and love Montreal but their lack of commitment to this very do-able project tells us otherwise. They are some of the richest people in Canada and deserve the blame for this dream falling apart. Figure it out or don’t.     

9. REGINA THUNDER: Had a blast doing the Access Now TV broadcast of Sunday’s 57-15 Thunder win over the Edmonton Wildcats at Leibel Field with Josh Sigurdson and Olivia Lawrence. The Thunder are now 6-0 in regular season play at Leibel Field since they started playing games there regularly in 2019. Receiver Rylan Sokul is projected to be the best junior player in the country and the Carter Shewchuk to Isaac Ford connection is real. If you’re a football fan and you love a great seat close to the action, you NEED to be at Leibel Field this season. You’ll get a chance Sunday in week two when the Winnipeg Rifles come to town for a 1 o’clock kickoff.

10. IN-THE-HUDDLE THIS WEEK: John Lipp came up with the idea of billeting visiting fans to make up for the shortage of hotel rooms that had always prevented Saskatchewan from bidding on a Grey Cup game when he was president of the Riders during the 90’s. Today, he is the chairman of the Plaza of Honour and will visit with us on this week’s episode to talk about, among other things, this year’s inductees. Check us out Tuesday nights at 7 on the Access Now cable channel or the Access Now app.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)