THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. EDMONTON EMPIRE SUITS JUST FINE: I’m not one to echo somebody else’s commentary but I found Drew Edwards’s 3 Down Nation Youtube bit on the Edmonton Eskimo name controversy spot on.

Nobody thinks Edmonton is racist for using the term but how much would be lost by simply adjusting the name?

Some of you might call it political correctness going overboard and that happens too. But none of the Politically Correct police officers sound as ridiculous as the morons defending the Washington Redskins name either.

Enough with these stupid team names already. Get over it.


2. CFLPA HASN’T UPGRADED: In the last round of Collective Bargaining between the CFL and its players, it was generally agreed that the players got the short end of the stick. Ricky Foley and others were blasting then-PA head Scott Flory for not playing hard ball when the going got tough and the traffic got heavy.

Foley wanted the league to hire someone who was purely a negotiator and not a football guy.

Well Brian Ramsay was/is a football guy but he has reputable union guy Ken Georgetti at his side who is supposed to help avoid the pitfalls that held the players back in 2014.

So far: A cut in the Canadian player quota, more jerking around/arrogance from the owners and no tangible gains for the players, despite the new stadiums and rich TV deal from TSN.

A golden opportunity to advance player wellness and Canadian quarterbacks appears to be evaporating into thin air.

Brutal.

The players’ best card to play at this point is to be coy until after the season starts and then ramp up the rhetoric closer to Labour Day with a late season shutdown as leverage which would jeopardize Grey Cup revenues for the owners. It worked for the MLBPA in ’94 and although it destroyed my beloved Montreal Expos, it created a blueprint for the players to actually beat the owners at their own game.


3. MONTREAL ALOUETTES SALE: Wake me up when this is over.


4. JOE PAOPAO’S RETURN TO OTTAWA: Sounds like the Redblacks ain’t making the playoffs. In the Throwin’ Samoan’s last 6 seasons working with 3 different teams around the league, he has ended up with a record of .500 or less. Good person, good athlete and maybe even a good coach. But not a difference maker, not as a player or a coach. At least not since he broke into the league in 1978.


5. WINNIPEG NFL PRESEASON GAME: They can have it. I don’t want us to be the ones helping some buffoon like Oakland Raider owner Mark Davis. Let him use the good people of Winnipeg. Not us. We have better things to spend our money on than a bunch of overhyped scrubs in a preseason game.


6. PRINCE ALBERT RAIDERS BACKUP GOALIE: Rooting for the Raiders to bring it home now that they are Saskatchewan’s last hope in the WHL playoffs. This is a unique opportunity they have. They could’ve added insurance with a decent backup goalie and chose not to. It won’t matter as long as nothing happens to star netminder Ian Scott. That’s a big IF. They should’ve added someone. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.


7. SWIFT CURRENT BRONCO BROADCASTS: I’m surprised the Swift Current Broncos will be one of the first big sports properties to trailblaze away from conventional radio broadcasts completely to online streaming. Quite frankly, I’m surprised it’s taken this long for this happen. It is inevitable that one day all local sports teams will have professional TV broadcasts live on the internet by way of an app funded by either ad revenue or subscriber fees.

I mean seriously, we’ve watched this internet thing destroy both local TV and local newspaper coverage. It’s only a matter of time for terrestrial radio too. As a whole, it’s not a bad thing. Innovation brings both challenges and opportunities. And if you’re an advertiser, why on earth would you stick with something that has no measurable audience when you could go for something that does?

Radio stations who adapt to – and embrace – these changes will do just fine. Having worked for Golden West Radio, the company that owns the Swift Current stations, I have serious doubts about that outfit coming with up any new ideas for the Broncos or their fans.

The Swift Current Broncos are brave enough to eliminate the middle-man and go it alone. Good for them. Leading the charge is a dirty job (the Portland Winterhawks made this leap first) but someone’s got to do it.    

(MaxTV’s Canalta Cup Coverage)

8. SJHL FINALS BROADCASTS: Phenomenal setup on Max TV and Facebook Live (pictured). If the Swift Current Bronco online broadcasts look like this, they’ll be wondering what took them so long to make the switch.


9. STANLEY CLUP PLAYOFFS: Calgary Flames goalie Mike Smith and his retro-style mask look terrific. Other than that … booooorrrring! Bring on the Regina Red Sox! #isitmayyet?


10. MATT STAIRS: Still on Cloud 9 from interviewing Todd Stottlemyre on stage at the Regina Red Sox Sports Dinner and Auction last year. This year, on April 27th at the Turvey Centre, I get to do it all over again with another retired Blue Jay, Matt Stairs. I plan to ask him about his clutch pinch-hit homerun for the Phillies in the ’08 NLCS at Dodger Stadium. Any questions you have for Matt? Message me on twitter and I’ll try to pass them along.