THURSDAY RUNDOWN: LUCA CONGI & RICK VAIVE!

We welcomed two more sports greats on Episode #363 of The RP Show – Canada’s Daytime Sports Talkshow! Here’s the rundown:

• Rod and Dupes got it going with The Warmup covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) It’s a huge NFC West matchup on Thursday Night Football with Arizona at Seattle, 2) World Junior prospect Ridley Greig of the Brandon Wheat Kings as The Rona, 3) Why is Team Canada’s camp in Red Deer so long?, 4) A recap of Grey Cup Unite events so far, 5) NBA Draft talk, and 6) TSN’s bracket for the Top 8 all-time Grey Cup champions DOESN’T include the 2013 Roughriders???? (All RP can figure is that TSN feels Rider Nation would commandeer the poll so excluding them would make it fair for the other teams).
• Former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Rick Vaive joined the show from his Toronto home and it was a fascinating visit. The 800+ NHL game vet talked about all things Leafs and admitted he’s not a fan of Toronto’s reverse retro jersey which was unveiled this week, paying homage to the 1980’s Maple Leafs. Vaive said he wasn’t a fan of the sweater when he wore it! Rod told Vaive that his Titan sticks are legendary in hockey circles and he dug one out from his living room after prying it away from the Hockey Hall of Fame. Rick said it weighs between 10-15 lbs! Vaive discussed his new book Catch 22 – My Battles In Hockey & Life in which he chronicles his time in the NHL and battles with Alcoholism. He and RP related on this level and Vaive said he’s more proud of getting sober than he was of scoring 50 goals for Toronto. Vaive said after the interview he was headed out to get his last round of golf in for the year.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Who’s the greatest architect in pro sports history – Bill Belichick, Theo Epstein, Jerry Krause or Glen Sather? At press time, Belichick and Sather were neck-and-neck.
• Hour 2 was simulcast on Game+ TV and Facebook Live and we were joined by 9-year CFL kicker Luca Congi from his Toronto home. Luca discussed winning the 2007 Grey Cup with Saskatchewan and losing the 2013 Grey Cup with Hamilton. Kent Austin was his coach both times. The SFU product said he missed his first field goal attempt in 2007 because his legs were shaking so bad! He and Rod went deep into the 2013 Grey Cup game and week and how things played out. Regarding a return for the CFL, Congi said the league and players need to come together like they never have before in order to build a league that can withstand the test of time.
• Brian Wiebe of BCHL Network joined the show to discuss the state of Junior A hockey in British Columbia. Wiebe said the league is still in “extended training camps”, playing exhibition games against each other which aren’t officially sanctioned by the league. Wiebe said all teams are still playing with the exception of teams in the Lower Mainland which have been shutdown. Regarding the WHL/Junior A player transfers, Wiebe says he doesn’t have strong feelings on it either way but hates to see players getting cut in favour of WHL players. He also said Vancouver-area hockey fans will be keenly watching Connor Bedard’s Exceptional Player season with the Regina Pats.
• Thursday’s show is available for viewing now on our Facebook page, you can catch the replay at 4:00 pm ET on Game+, listen to the podcast by clicking on the CONTENT tab at the top of this page, or listen anytime to our 24-hour live audio feed for SUDS Full Service Car Wash at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive.
• See you at 10:00 am CT Friday for a Flame Tech Football Friday!