THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. WHO’S NOT ‘DISTANCING’: Everyone at Walmart (from what I can see). Since they’re still busy, I sure can’t wait to see how much they’ll be donating to recovery efforts for all of this. I sure hope Amazon and Netflix will do their part, too. We’ll see.

2. HEROES OF THE WEEK: Healthcare professionals. But also, airline flight attendants who’ve spent all this time helping us reach our destinations while putting themselves at risk of this thing, only to be laid off and ordered to ‘self-isolate’. They are some of the hardest-working and most deserving people I know. If you know a flight attendant still working or laid off, be sure to say ‘thank you’ for keeping our world moving.

3. LOSERS OF THE WEEK: Price gougers, Donald Trump, and landlords refusing to communicate with their tenants about solutions to navigate all of this. Peter MacKay for trying to use the situation for political gain.

4. SOLUTION TO THE PANDEMIC: Embrace the lockdown and function as best you can for the next month. Try not to complain too much, especially if you still have a job and a roof over your head. Remember, the sooner we deal with this, the sooner we get back to normal

5. DID YOU KNOW: Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden were considered for U.S. President in 1988? As much as things have changed in 30 years, it’s too bad some of the choices for the most powerful job in the world haven’t.

6. THE ’94 EXPOS EXAMPLE OF MORE TO COME: There have been many books written about what might have been, what could have been, and what should have been of the 1994 Montreal Expos. The player strike pulled the rug out from under baseball’s best that summer and might’ve destroyed pro baseball in that city all together. Well there are plenty of those stories that will come from this saga. Unless they all magically pull off a playoff run this summer or into the fall. I still think this could be done as made-for-TV. We’ll see.

7. THE HOMELESS: Let’s give the hotels in this city a boost and give them some government cash to look after our homeless. Almost cried hearing one guy on the news, who is clearly not employable, talk about having nowhere to eat right now while he copes with his schizophrenia. This is not helping.

8. THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH: Rural Saskatchewan. If you still live on the farm or in a small town, celebrate living there and the good fortune it brings in a time like this.

9. OUR SILVER LINING: My grandparents and great grandparents lived through 2 world wars, at least 2 pandemics and the dirty 30’s great depression. What came out of that for those who survived was the greatest generation ever. A crew that worked hard, respected each other, and a humanity that brought us universal healthcare and laid the groundwork for probably the best 75-year stretch society has ever known. This is tough but if the experience makes us just a little more like them, it won’t all be bad.

10. MORE BINGE-WATCHING FOR SELF-ISOLATION: The Rod Pedersen Show of course but also some of the retro Roughrider games from the last 1970s and early 80s on YouTube. Seriously, if you don’t the final score, it’s exciting to watch. I saw Ron Lancaster’s final game at Taylor Field from 1978 the other night and it was the best football game I’ve seen in 6 months.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)