Thursday Commentary: Shoo-In

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For Roughriders followers, it’s one of the biggest days on the calendar yearly.

The day the Plaza of Honour induction class is named.

And for Riderville, that day was Wednesday as Roy Shivers, Darian Durant and Steve Molnar were named to this year’s class of Saskatchewan’s team Hall of Fame.

My first thought? Bravo to all.

My second? That they had to wait for Jim Hopson to pass away before they could put Shiv in, since the two famously bumped heads almost 20 years ago – Shivers as GM and Hopson as President – before Roy was eventually fired midway through the 2006 season.

But that’s not true.

For one, Jim Hopson never had any influence on who was named to the Plaza class. Not to my knowledge anyway.

And two, long before Jim lost his cancer battle this spring, he’d made amends with Roy. At least, in his own heart.

It was all part of that End of Life discussion we had, and Hoppy said the biggest challenge we’ll ever face in life is getting over those grudges and resentments from the past. But you have to, if you want to leave in peace.

And despite the rude things Shivers said about Jim in the media way back when, that was all water under the bridge as far as Jim was concerned.

I believed he was telling me the truth, and his advice is something that I’ve gone to work on real hard since. It works!

As far as Shivers being Plaza-worthy or not, he is. The only thing keeping him out was those inside-the-walls Rider grudges that only those running the team are privy to.

It’s not something I think about anymore.

And of course Darian Durant is a shoo-in. Reading his list of accomplishments in Green & White would be too long for here, and you already know them anyway.

Darian finishing his career as an Alouette is just a footnote that pretty much every sports legend has at the end of their Wikipedia page.

Finishing up elsewhere.

Thankfully these two can also add a Hall of Fame to those resumes, and the Molnar family can be real proud too.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

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