THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. FAJARDO’S NEW CONTRACT: I hate to burst Cody’s bubble but the NFL is NOT interested in a quarterback who’s about to turn 29 and has had one good year in Canada. A ten percent paycut for 2021 (a season likely to be shortened and pro-rated anyway) is hardly a sacrifice to guarantee a half-million dollar pay day for 2022.  Of all the star quarterbacks who’ve accepted pay cuts from Mike Reilly to Trevor Harris, Bo Levi Mitchell and Zach Collaros, Cody Fajardo probably had to sacrifice the least. A sign of just how badly the Roughrider brass doesn’t want to miss out on a short window of still having a Chris Jones-built-defence, a players coach in Craig Dickenson, and their new-found resident rock star quarterback.

2. WARREN WOODS FIGHTS COVID: The GoFundMe page to raise funds to help the legendary Regina sportscaster recover from the coronavirus shot past its $50,000 goal to $62,138 at the time of this column being written. Thanks to the ten people who organized this and the more than 600 people who donated. I grew up watching Woodsy on STV Sportsline, much of which had him paired up with Ron Rimer in the early 90’s, which was and still is the standard bearer for local highlight shows to this day. Our Jay and Dan before Jay and Dan. Until we get our new Sportsline back through this internet thing, let’s be happy to have Woodsy around and thank him for reminding us all this COVID thing isn’t fake news. Some aren’t taking this all that seriously and think the sports world should just carry on as normal through all of it. They don’t speak for the local sports community and they sure don’t speak for me.

3. TRUMP KICKED OFF TWITTER: Free speech is a right. Using someone else’s social media platform is a privilege. If I, or anyone else, ever used this website to harass, threaten or incite violence toward anyone, Rod might throw us off his website. As he should. Twitter is no different. Our words and actions have consequences, even on the internet. And even for the President of the United States.

4. DID YOU KNOW?: The great Dodger Manager, Tommy Lasorda, who passed away this week once agreed to become the 2^nd ever manager of the Montreal Expos back in 1976. Having pitched for the Dodgers farm team, the Montreal Royals, Tommy was enthusiastic about coming back to Canada and managing the Expos. He was called back at the last minute, promised to replace then-Dodger Manager Walter Alston and the rest is history. Lasorda and the Dodgers won two World Series titles and Tommy got into the Hall of Fame. The Expos don’t exist anymore and some of us are still wondering about what could’ve been.

5. DID YOU KNOW PART II: For all you trivia nerds, if Mike Pence becomes President this week (it could happen) and Tom Brady beats Drew Brees next weekend (less likely but could also happen), Brady’s pro football career will carry through its sixth U.S. President. From Bill Clinton through George W Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Mike Pence and then Joe Biden. That’s pretty astonishing but not quite a record. George Blanda played through six presidents, too. Tom will have to play until he’s at least 47 to break the record. Still probably more likely than Trump remaining President for another week. 

6. BEST OUTDOOR RINK SO FAR: We’ve been to Currie Field and Echo Valley. They were both great but the one in Kipling, Saskatchewan is easily the best and it’s not even close. Alan Batters and Bobby Byrnell have built the greatest outdoor rink on earth. If you’re looking for something to do or somewhere to go this winter, go check it out. You’ll be glad you did. 

7. CKRM RADIO: Hard not to be in a good mood when you hear the smile of Cody Glydon on the airwaves. I remember working at CJME radio in about 2007 when a program director and I agreed that CKRM would need to do a format change or go out of business within a decade. Well, that decade has come and gone and CKRM is still on the air. Country music on an AM radio might be outdated in some places but not here and I think I’ve finally figured out why. From its shrinking population to its crappy internet, rural Saskatchewan has forever felt like the place the rest of the world has forgotten about. Harvard Broadcasting has, very wisely, wrapped its arms around these small towns and made them feel loved. It doesn’t take much, really. 

8. GLEN SUITOR: Speaking of CKRM, just read on 3DownNation that TSN analyst Glen Suitor has ended his 30-year-long affiliation with 980 CJME radio to do weekly check-ins down the dial at 620 CKRM. I’ve heard many a legendary story of Suits breaking in to radio when he was still a starting Safety with the Riders under the watchful eye of then-News Director and still-boss Murray Wood. Could you imagine that happening today? Mike Edem getting up at 4 AM to read the sports and then off to Rider practice? As for the change in scenery for Suitor, probably a result of budget cuts crushing the radio industry during this awful pandemic. Hard to pay someone a lot of money to talk about a CFL that isn’t happening right now.

9. BELICHICK TURNS DOWN PRESIDENT MEDAL: Good on him for not allowing someone else to stain his good name. Bill loves to bury his head in the sand on political issues with comments like “We don’t care about that” just about any time he’s been quizzed about civil rights movements or any other political issues. That’s okay most of the time as we’re not all wired for that kind of stuff and sports is supposed to be our escape from all that, anyway. But there is a line. Bill recognized the line and acted appropriately, despite his friendship with “the Donald”. Bill has earned a lot of respect for his record that speaks for itself but he earned a lot more from some of us for simply knowing when to say ‘no’.

10. NFL PLAYOFF PICKS NEXT WEEKEND: Ravens over the Bills. Chiefs will beat Cleveland. Green Bay rolls the Rams. Saints upend the Bucs. Y’er welcome.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)