THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE
1. FAJARDO HEALTHY: Cody Fajardo and I froze our a$$es off Saturday night walking from the SaskTel Centre (Saskatchewan Place) parking lot into the building for the Rush game. Although we didn’t walk together, I’m sure Cody’s experience wasn’t much different than mine. Hearing that he feels good and ready to rock for 2020 is a good sign that he’ll have his mojo back in time for training camp. The scrutiny playing here drives most quarterbacks nuts. The fact Cody is getting away to the U.S. in the offseason and still making it back to do fun stuff – like perform halftime stunts at a lacrosse game in Saskatoon – should be the perfect recipe to keep his enthusiasm strong enough to embrace the role of being the face of “Canada’s Team”.
2. RUSH GAMES WOULD BE PERFECT IF: They just shut the music down during the action. I’m not saying they should change anything. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If pounding the music during the play is what the paying customer wants, then that’s what the customer should get. Doesn’t mean we all have to like it. Hockey could still be the perfect sport if scoring went up just a little. But that’s a conversation for about 30 more columns.
3. BLACK ROUGHRIDER UNIFORMS: Ditched them after the Roy Shivers era ended in 2006. They were sharp. They’re due for a comeback. And not those red and black ones that bombed, either. New Era needs to design us a slick black and green look for a 3rd jersey.
4. WHY THE RUSH ARE SUCH A HIT WITH SASKATOON: They think they are too big to get excited about the WHL or Western Canadian Baseball League or even semi-pro basketball. Problem is, they’re too small for the NHL and they’re not getting a CFL team, either. Saskatoon is a misfit in no-man’s land. The National Lacrosse League is perfect. Competing against New York, Colorado and Georgia is exactly what that town needed to get fired up.
5. DURON CARTER: Wants to play until he’s 40. But he probably won’t get the chance to play when he’s 29 this coming season. Alabama CFL fan Ron Montgomery had the line of the week on social media, “skills will probably decline before maturity kicks in”. Sadly, I think Ron is right.
6. CORTEZ BACK WITH STAMPS: My pal, Calgary’s Will MacDonald from the Let’s Talk CFL podcast, thinks Cortez is the greatest offensive coordinator in CFL history. Pretty hard to argue with that. He’s been around Damon Allen, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Kerry Joseph, Henry Burris and Darian Durant. He helped the Riders win a Grey Cup in 2013 before Corey Chamblin made an incredibly stupid choice to throw George under the bus for not winning more games in 2014 with such star talent as Seth Doege, Tino Sunseri and a 41-year-old Kerry Joseph in the back half of the season after Durant got injured following an 8-2 start. If the Calgary Stampeders weren’t favored in the west already, they are now.
7. JOE BURROW’S CFL COMMENTS: It was refreshing to see LSU’s star quarterback talk about his dad’s Grey Cup triumphs and failures in front of a North American audience after capturing the U.S. College football championship trophy last week. The CFL doesn’t need legitimacy from the American media. It already has it from the players, themselves. And that means a whole lot more than any naysayer.
8. REGINA RED SOX NEWS: Former Blue Jay reliever Jason Grilli headlines the Regina Red Sox annual Sports Dinner and Auction, April 25th at the Turvey Centre, a date I always circle on my sports calendar. Even bigger news on the field is that Manager Jason Veyna will be back for the 2020 season. Wasn’t sure he would find time to commute from his home in Colorado for the season but after 2 straight years of losing out in the finals, including last year’s rookie managerial season, he has unfinished business. And that’s probably a good thing for Sox fans.
9. DUSTIN MOLLEKEN: Nice to see his face around Regina again these days. Dusty would make a great Regina Red Sox manager or coach, hopefully someday soon.
10. FILM OF THE WEEK: ‘Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez’, is the Netflix documentary that came out last week and has people talking. Was it brain damage from playing football? Was it the death of his father at a young age? Was it being in the closet about his sexuality? Or was it his constant drug-use that made him do the crazy things he did? Still unanswered questions to this day. However, as one of his lawyers points out during the film, something to the effect of, “If somewhere along the way his (Hernandez’s) on-field performance mattered less than his off-field behavior, this might have all been avoided”. A prime example of the business and hype around sport clouding our judgement about what’s really important and what isn’t.
(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)
1- after last years off season mishap with Dan Clark the Saskatchewan Roughriders Football Club would be wise to mandate all players under contract cease and desist all unnecessary extra curricular activities immediately. 2- the customer is always right, keep playing that music. 3- Mr Roy Shivers is Roughrider Royalty. 4- new era needs to hit the road and never come back. Saskatoon Saskatchewan to be awarded a cfl franchise very soon as its needed to make the league viable. 5- riders gm ODay needs to bring home Duron Carter. 6- Seth Doege, Tino Sunseri should have been developed and… Read more »
On topic #4- The ONLY reason the Rush are a hit in Saskatoon is because they have been winning ,give them 2 or 3 losing seasons and find out what happens,Saskatoon only supports a winner.Besides what else is there to do in Saskatoon .
#1- It is awesome that Cody comes back to do events during his off season from his home in the USA but rest assured he is being paid to do so and I’d come back for the same reasons as Cody if I were him .
I never understood why Saskatoon didn’t get into the Blades. My first ever WHL game was 25 years ago at SaskPlace. Beautiful rink, awesome game against PA but there was hardly anyone there and I couldn’t figure out why. It’s not like there were any other sports options in town at the time. This year Winnipeg is finally in the Dub and I think it’s amazing. People here are starting to catch on. All due respect to lacrosse but if you offered me the choice between going to a WHL game or lacrosse, I would pick the WHL 100 times… Read more »
#2 I enjoy the sport but the pounding music keeps me away from Rush games. I would welcome a break from the constant noise and extracurricular activity periodically. #3 Black uniforms – no thanks. New Era should focus on a complete redesign of our uniform. I didn’t like the current uniform when it came out, and still don’t. I think it’s that fat stripe down the side, which is just … fat. #4 Saskatoon has typically led attendance in the “new” leagues which have come to town – the various b’ball semi-pro leagues, including the current CEBL, the short-lived Canadian… Read more »
That Atlantic Schooners ownership group would be far better off turning around their cfl football franchise interests by investing in the City of Saskatoon Saskatchewan. The City of Saskatoon a vibrant eclectic city, they get it, progression and growth surely to do the cfl and citizens good.
You are so wrong in bringing a CFL franchise to Saskatoon as it would definately draw fans away from the riders ,There is NO way Saskatchewan can support 2 teams in the CFL ,the attendance at Riders games is slowly declining already ,it’s not the packed crowds as when the beautifull mosaic was first opened.There used to be a waiting list for Riders season tickets and that’s not the case anymore as the Riders are continuously trying to get you to buy seasons ,that’s just my opinion .
I don’t agree with commenter Ray suggesting Shivers is Rider Royalty. If anything the reverse racist comments Shivers made when he was talking about the black uniforms made myself and many others lose any respect we may have had. Suggesting Women like black so that’s why he had black uniforms made. Or his ultimate goal was to have an all black team. People are afraid to talk about comments like these. Or anything else when dealing with color. Due of today’s over the top political correctness. Where every ethnicity can change everything about North America. But when anything is said… Read more »
The football astute Mr. Roy Shivers saved the Roughriders from the burnt out ashes of catastrophic destruction, for that he revered Rider Royalty.
Black 3rd Jersey? Maybe.
But please get rid of the monochrome look. White jersey, green pants. Green jersey and White pants. Too easy.