TUESDAY COMMENTARY – AS GOOD AS IT GETS

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98 & Rock 98.5 FM)

THE ROUGHRIDERS ANNOUNCED THEIR 2022 PLAZA OF HONOUR INDUCTION CLASS ON MONDAY AND 90 SECONDS HERE AREN’T NEARLY ENOUGH TO DESCRIBE WHAT THESE MEN MEANT TO THE FRANCHISE.

THE CLASS CONSISTS OF MIKE MCCULLOUGH, WESTON DRESSLER AND KEN MILLER; ALL OF WHOM CAME TO THE FRANCHISE IN THE DECADE OF THE 2000’S.

THE FIRST OF WHICH WAS MCCULLOUGH, AND THE KINGSTON PRODUCT CAME TO THE RIDERS IN THE 2003 DRAFT. THE STURDY LINEBACKER FILLED LEADERSHIP AND SPECIAL TEAMS ROLES OVER HIS 11 SEASONS AND WON TWO GREY CUPS.

FOR YEARS AFTER HIS DRAFT YEAR, MIKEY ALWAYS JOKED THAT THE RIDERS NEVER HAD A LOSING RECORD AFTER THEY CHOSE HIM. THAT HELD TRUE ALL THE WAY UP TO THE 2011 SEASON.

MCCULLOUGH WAS ALWAYS QUICK WITH AN INTELLIGENT QUOTE, LIKE AFTER THE 2009 13^TH MAN DISASTER WHEN HE QUIPPED, “DON’T EVER LET SOMEONE TELL YOU A FOOTBALL GAME CAN’T COME DOWN TO ONE PLAY.

“BECAUSE THAT ONE DID.”

WESTON DRESSLER CAME TO THE RIDERS BY WAY OF BISMARCK, ND AND IN HIS FIRST TRAINING CAMP IN 2008, HE DIDN’T CAST MUCH OF A SHADOW AT 5’7”, 165 LBS.

BUT THE SLOTBACK PLAYED LIKE HE WAS 6’4” AND TREATED EVERY PRACTICE REP LIKE IT WAS THE SUPER BOWL.

THAT’S WHAT’S GETTING HIM INTO THE RIDERS HALL OF FAME.

WESTON IS NOTORIOUSLY QUIET BUT COULD BE A LOT OF FUN IN THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCE, LIKE THE NIGHT WE BURNED A NIK LEWIS JERSEY IN THE PARKING LOT OF A GULL LAKE BANQUET HALL DURING A SPORTS DINNER!

AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST, IS THE MOST BELOVED COACH IN ROUGHRIDER HISTORY, KEN MILLER.

GRANDPA MILLER TOOK OVER THE RIDERS FROM KENT AUSTIN IN 2008, AFTER BEING THE TEAM’S OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR IN THE GREY CUP YEAR OF 2007.

THEN-RIDER GM ERIC TILLMAN TOLD ME HE GAVE MILLER THE JOB BECAUSE HE WAS ALREADY ON STAFF, THAT TEAM DESERVED AS MUCH, AND THE PLAYERS LOVED HIM.

DID THEY EVER.

AND WHILE MILLER’S RESUME WILL ALWAYS REFLECT LOSSES IN THE 2009 AND ’10 GREY CUPS, THAT TOO IS SYMBOLIC OF KEN’S COACHING PHILOSOPHY.

HE TRUSTED PEOPLE TO DO THEIR JOBS BUT ON THAT NOVEMBER DAY IN CALGARY IN 2009, SOMEBODY DIDN’T. BUT HE STOOD AT THE PODIUM AFTER THE GAME AND TOOK THE BLAME.

I SAID TO HIM ONCE, “KENNY YOU’VE GOT TO STOP TAKING THE BULLET FOR THINGS THAT AREN’T YOUR FAULT.”

HE TURNED TO ME AND SAID STERNLY, “I’LL ALWAYS TAKE THE BULLET.”

LEADERSHIP LIKE THAT IS SO RARE THESE DAYS, BUT THAT’S WHY HE’S GOING INTO THE PLAZA.

THE DEBATE IS ALREADY RAGING OVER WHO WAS OMITTED FROM THIS CLASS, INCLUDING ROY SHIVERS AND RICHIE HALL, BUT THAT’S A DISSERVICE TO THIS TRIO OF RIDER LEGENDS.

THEY WERE AS GOOD AS IT GETS.

THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV across Canada and the USA. Call your cable provider for details. You can also watch on YouTube Live or listen 24/7 at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive)