THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE
1. CFL’S WORST CORONAVIRUS VICTIMS: The fans, owners and corporate sponsors can live without a CFL season. Heck, most Canadian players and prospects can probably be approved for a government emergency payment of their own. It’s the American players who I bleed for more than anyone else. Support down there isn’t what it is up here and these are young men who’ve been preparing all off-season for a crack at playing pro ball in another country. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot train to be an elite athlete and work fulltime at the same time. We love to tout our Canadian players and badger the league for not doing more to give Canadian quarterbacks a shot. But without our American players, our league is nothing. And right now, they’re paying a brutal price for the crisis we’re in.
2. BUILDING NEW MOSAIC STADIUM: I was one of the most vocal critics of public spending for the money pit that is a new football stadium. But looking back, thank goodness they did it! Think about it. Could you imagine trying to get a new football stadium built now? It solidified the future of the Riders and the CFL, post-COVID19.
3. BUILDING NEW CURRIE FIELD: Downtown real estate is always tricky but the strip of land along the southern edge of the Dewdney strip isn’t used anyways and probably won’t be for another 40 years or so. Why not build a baseball stadium? Imagine the backdrop of the SGI tower and a Regina Skyline on summer nights. This is a grand slam waiting to happen.
4. NON-SPORTING EVENT I’LL MISS THE MOST: Regina Folk Fest. I love falling asleep staring up at said skyline and listening to the tunes.
5. EDMONTON FOOTBALL CLUB NAME: If I was them, I would just change the name and be done with it. However, plenty of us define the term ‘Eskimo’ as a northerner who lives in igloos and is someone to be admired the same way as Vikings who ruled the north. In a unique era where we’re about to see not one but 2 major sports teams change their names, it’s important we seek to understand the other side of the argument, too.
6. GREAT WCBL EXPANSION CITIES: Sylvan Lake is building a stadium and I’m hearing it won’t be long before Edmonton has 2 teams. Calgary might add another, too. We need new franchises closer to home to limit Regina Red Sox road trips and keep it even with the Alberta teams playing in the west. If Yorkton and Melville are out, the league should pursue rich people who like baseball and would be open to owning a team of their own in Saskatoon, Prince Albert or North Battleford. Saskatchewan is as baseball hungry as anywhere in Canada.
7. VIDEO GAME SIMULATIONS: Had one reporter tell me he doesn’t watch them because they’re “silly”. Well, of course, they’re silly. All sports are silly. That’s why we enjoy them so much. They never actually matter. They’re a distraction from reality so we can put our feet up for a few hours each week and pretend like they do matter.
8. LOCAL SPORTS COULD HELP COVID RECOVERY: Can you think of a better way for local businesses to advertise?
9. PROOF CFL QUARTERBACKS ARE NOT INFERIOR: Was reading this week about Dieter Brock. At age 34, after his best CFL playing days were behind him, Brock led the Los Angeles Rams to the NFC championship game before getting stopped by the greatest defense in NFL history known as the ’85 Bears. We hear so much about Joe Theismann, Warren Moon, Doug Flutie and Jeff Garcia on this subject that I find it quite remarkable that I did not know this story until recently. How many quarterbacks in today’s CFL could rule the roost in the NFL today? At least a few, probably.
10. FILM OF THE WEEK: The Sask Summer Sim on Access 7 Sports of course! The first elimination round is on Wednesday and Friday nights this week. Check us out!
(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)
