THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. THE BLAME GAME: It’s pretty easy to point fingers and complain when someone else is in charge. The position Randy Ambrosie has found himself in, being responsible for putting CFL games on the field in an impossible situation, is reason enough to feel sorry for the guy. But the piling he’s been taking blows me away. From Nik Lewis to Gary Lawless and others, the league office has been taking a beating. Here’s my question to all of them: How come you’re not whining about the WHL not playing yet? They don’t even have to pay those players! How come WHL Commissioner Ron Robison isn’t being called all of the nasty things Randy Ambrosie is? Ticat owner Bob Young is right. The enemy is “the damn virus”. Nobody else. Period.

2. FIXING THE BUSINESS MODEL: Shrink coaching and GM and scouting staffs to a maximum of 10 people total. Cap the highest salary at $150,000 and work your way down from there. You will never convince me in a million years that we can’t find good coaches willing to work for that kind of money so our league can have a viable business.

3. CHARLESTON HUGHES COMMENTS: Pretty confident he was tongue-in-cheek with his comments about being the greatest pass-rusher, even today, if he were to play in the NFL. But it’s not as far-fetched as you might think. Players up here get ignored if they aren’t playing in the NFL by age 25. There are lots of players up here in their late 20s and early 30s who are far better than even some of the younger starters down there. This myth that their league is so much better than ours just isn’t true.

4. BEST SPORTS ON TV FALL EVER: Stanley Cup playoffs, NBA playoffs, baseball playoffs and NFL starting up is something we’ve never seen happen before in the same 2-month stretch and will hopefully never see again. This whole thing is awful but we really ought to stop and smell the roses for what we do have.  

5. HEROES OF THE WEEK: Sportscasters. Yes, I said sportscasters. Keeping us entertained and generating content at a time when content is slim pickings. All the while, their livelihoods are being severely challenged. Their world will never get tougher than this.

6. PFIZER VACCINE: If this thing works, as its CEO says we’ll know by the end of October, we should all show our appreciation through buying season tickets to the Regina Thunder. I would be a nice, indirect, thank you to head coach, and Pfizer employee, Scott MacAulay. He volunteers fulltime hours for free, as do many, for the Thunder. The drug companies don’t need it but organizations like the Thunder, do. And besides, can anyone think of a better way to celebrate the end of this nightmare than through buying affordable season tickets to a winning football team?

7. PROVINCIAL ELECTION: At the last one when Brad Wall captured his final term, someone predicted it would be the final election we knew the Sask Party would roll for sure. 4 and a half years later, we’re living in the most unpredictable era of our lifetime. Doesn’t seem likely the government will change but I do think we’re in for some surprises.

8. ANOTHER RIDER TELETHON: Na. Too many executives around the CFL, including in Saskatchewan, are paid far too much for this guy to chip in to a telethon. Either get the big boys like MLSE and David Braley to bail everyone out or suspend operations completely. The league will be back. We just don’t know when or with whom.

9. DID YOU KNOW?: The first 3 owners to sign Wayne Gretzky were all convicted of fraud? Nelson Skalbania, Peter Pocklington and Bruce McNall all hoodwinked investors in coughing up cash for things they shouldn’t have. It isn’t Wayne’s fault. He just took the money from whomever offered it to him. I’ve found it highly ironic that Peter Pocklington is so hated for trading Gretzky. Do your homework on Peter Puck and you will see it was probably the least of his sins.

10. GREAT YOUTUBE VIDEO: PRIME TICKET PRESS CONFERENCE-WAYNE GRETZKY JOINS LA KINGS is a cool, raw, behind-the-scenes look at Wayne’s introduction to the Los Angeles Kings. An uplifting show of optimism from a day most Canadians remember as doom and gloom and Wayne crying in Edmonton just a few hours before.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmcguire)