Thursday Commentary – Above It All

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Tuesday was a real tough day for Winnipeg.

In this spot yesterday we talked about the Jets getting bounced from the Stanley Cup playoffs with a Game 5 loss to Colorado.

But the Jets will live to fight another day.

Sadly, that’s not the case for Lyle Bauer.

The beloved Blue Bombers great passed away that same day at age 65.

While Lyle won three Grey Cups as an offensive lineman with Winnipeg, he also served as team President of both the Blue Bombers, and later the Calgary Stampeders.

Why should we care so much in the Wheat Province? Because Lyle’s originally from Saskatoon, and was just a great CFL gentleman.

An icon, actually.

And obviously, a winner.

The Bombers reached the Grey Cup multiple times while Lyle was President and on Wednesday current team President Wade Miller credited Lyle with steering the team out of the darkest of days which had built up in the tumultuous 1990’s.

I guess for a lot of us, that was our heyday. The 2000’s. The league was bursting at the seams back then, and Lyle was at the front of the parade.

While I was calling games for the rival Roughriders next door, during some very heated clashes including Grey Cups, West Division playoff games, Labour Day Classics and the birth of the Banjo Bowl, Lyle always found a way to keep his head about him, and was above the pettiness which can mire some fans (and some of us team folk).

I interviewed Lyle the odd time, but we were Facebook friends and that’s generally how we communicated. Lyle was never afraid to pass along a league tidbit, some guidance, or even an encouraging word.

That’s coming from the President of a rival team!

I’ll never know why he took a personal interest in me, but I’m so grateful he did.

But that was Lyle. Above it all.

When he goes into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, it’ll be posthumously and that’s a shame.

But you don’t have to have a bust, to be a Hall of Famer in my eyes.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 5 pm on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)