THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. REGINA RED SOX NEW RIVAL: The Edmonton Riverhawks won’t face the Regina Red Sox and it is, oddly enough, that very fact that makes this new organization the Sox’ biggest foe. Retired Edmonton Oiler defenceman Randy Gregg and his group have gained control of Edmonton’s RE/MAX Field and paid a Reported $500,000 USD for a West Coast League franchise that will be a 9-hour bus ride away from its nearest opponent. Gregg and his followers could have paid a $100,000 CDN expansion fee to play in the Western Canadian Baseball League and a little extra to the Edmonton Prospects, who are building a brand-new park in Spruce Grove, for territorial rights as a 2^nd franchise in Edmonton. The entire league would have been within that 9-hour bus ride. Now the Riverhawks will need 4,000-5,000 fans/night just to break even in a city that will never fully embrace crowds like that again without a triple A franchise to replace the Edmonton Trappers who left in 2004. WCBL president Kevin Kvame calls this a hostile intrusion and he’s right. Randy Gregg might have a degree from med school but judging by his latest choices, it could be argued that maybe he played without his helmet for just a little too long. I give this new franchise 2 years tops before it either switches to the WCBL or folds all together.

2. CFL DOESN’T NEED TO PLAY IN 2021: Stadiums will sit empty as long as they need to in order to wait this thing out. I hope and expect a 2021 season to happen and I even think we’ll have a vaccine before then. But even if we don’t and we have to miss another year of 3 down ball, all of these ‘henny penny the sky is falling’ commentaries about the CFL’s demise are premature and greatly exaggerated.

3. EDMONTON EQUIPMENT MANAGER LAYOFF: The CFL has no income. Lots of people have been getting laid off in industries where there actually is work to be done. I feel bad for this guy just like anyone whose livelihood has been clobbered by this awful virus. But I don’t see any of the know-it-alls railing on the Edmonton Football Club volunteering to step up and fund this guy’s salary, either. The amount of finger-pointing at the CFL over their handling of this coronavirus is astonishing. Good grief! This league has always hung by a thread when the world isn’t in turmoil. What does everyone expect?!

4. MIKE STACKHOUSE: I’ve always wondered when some of his commentaries would spark a chain reaction and maybe we’re there. CBC and CTV recently did stories about Mike’s views about masks not needing to be mandatory during the coronavirus outbreak in Yorkton. I realize Mike is the president of the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce and all but I actually don’t think those comments were all that offside. Mike has said far more offensive things, from praising Russia’s government for lying to its people to comments about the NFL’s Rooney Rule, that I’m amazed this is the thing people are so up-in-arms about. The truth is, I’ve known Mike for nearly 20 years, and one-on-one he’s a perfectly thoughtful, articulate and rational nice guy. I also think Mike gets sucked in by the attention drug that so many of us are addicted to. The more we enjoy attention, sometimes the more outrageous things we say to get more of said attention. And in the end, we always end up saying something we either regret or make somebody else regret. Politically, Mike and I couldn’t be more different. But he’s not one of the bad guys, either.   

5. SANDRA MORIN: Good for provincial NDP leader Ryan Meili for having the spine to dump a candidate he didn’t think was right for his party. He has every right to stand up to the old boys club of that party as every leader should. If she has such a problem with it, she should tell her side of the story which, to date, she’s chosen not to do. Her defense of “I have experience in cabinet” is a pretty awful, weak argument if you ask me. It’s about time the Sask NDP had a backbone again. This should be the most interesting election since Brad Wall took over.

6. STANLEY CUP FINALS: I just loved watching Tampa and Dallas duke it out. Seemed to me they enjoyed playing and not stressing over formulas, sabremetrics and defensive systems that most other NHL teams do. Maybe I’ll give the sport another chance, after all.

7. NBA FINALS: The Nuggets were a real, nice story but let’s get serious. We needed Lebron versus the Heat! This will be must-see TV and takes the sting out of the Raptors losing out. And I’m especially glad Kawhi didn’t get to leave and win another championship in L.A. Aside from the Raptors being in the finals, this is about as good as it gets.

8. MLB PLAYOFFS: I don’t care what they do in 2020 because this is an anomaly. But you’ll never convince me that ditching pennant races is a good idea. And I don’t even care if the Blue Jays win it all. I still can’t bring myself to cheer for Shapiro-Atkins. I’m not sure why, really. I just can’t.

9. LORNE HARASEN RETIRES FROM HOF: Guy is a living legend who has stepped down from the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame selection committee. Nobody works harder on their nomination submissions or put more thought into the first nomination meeting I sat in on than Lorne. Being the youngest voter on this committee by about 35 years, Lorne was a big help in taking me under his wing in my first year. Totally changed my view on the man so many of us viewed as an on-air curmudgeon through the Saskatchewan radio airwaves from the 1960s through the 1990s. There is no one on earth you can expect brutal honesty from more than Lorne Harasen. But when he tells you that you’ve done a good job, boy there’s no better feeling on earth!

10. WEEKLY WISDOM: If you don’t like any of the candidates running in the provincial or municipal election, instead of making fun of the people running, how bout you look in the mirror and ask yourself if you could do any better. And if so, how about you step up to plate?

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)