TUESDAY COMMENTARY – CFL BUSINESS

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary at 9:50 am and 5:20 pm on Cat Country 98 FM)

IT’S A SECOND-STRAIGHT DAY OF TALKING ABOUT THE CFL! AND WHY NOT? WE CAN TALK ABOUT THE DALLAS COWBOYS TOMORROW, AS THEY TAKE ON THE BALTIMORE RAVENS TONIGHT ON NATIONAL TV.

MONDAY WAS A PRETTY BIG NEWS DAY IN CANADIAN FOOTBALL. THE EDMONTON FOOTBALL CLUB EXTENDED G-M BROCK SUNDERLAND WHILE THE BC LIONS NAMED CO-GENERAL MANAGERS TO REPLACE ED HERVEY.

THEY ARE HEAD COACH RICK CAMPBELL, AND LONGTIME PERSONNEL AND FOOTBALL OPS GUY NEIL MCEVOY.

INITIALLY, THIS RAISED A FEW EYEBROWS AMONG FOOTBALL FANS, AND IS EVEN GETTING SOME THUMBS DOWN FROM PUNDITS.

BUT THAT’S JUST BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW MCEVOY.  YOU’VE HEARD OF THE PHRASE “CFL LIFERS”, AND HE’S ONE OF THEM. HE KNOWS HOW CFL BUSINESS IS DONE, WHERE THE BODIES ARE BURIED, AND IS AN ORIGINAL BC GUY.

WHY THEY NEEDED TO TAG RICK CAMPBELL AS CO-GM, I HAVE NO IDEA. MAYBE IT WAS A WAY TO AVOID GIVING EITHER A BIG RAISE.

THE FIRST QUESTION THAT POPPED INTO MY HEAD WHEN I HEARD THE NEWS WAS “WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE GEROY SIMON?”. THE FRANCHISE ICON-TURNED-SCOUT WAS SEEMINGLY BEING GROOMED FOR THE GM POSITION.

AS FOR OTHER CFL BUSINESS, THE LEAGUE UNVEILED ITS FREE AGENT CLASS LAST WEEK AND WE DISCUSSED THE TOP 10 HERE MONDAY.

THE RIDERS HAVE CLOSE TO 30 PENDING FREE AGENTS BUT IF YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT LOSING THEM, DON’T BE.

GM JEREMY O’DAY KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING AS WELL OR BETTER THAN ANYONE. A FIRST PLACE FINISH IN HIS FIRST YEAR IN CHARGE, COUPLED WITH SIGNING THE DIVISION’S COACH OF THE YEAR AND PLAYER OF THE YEAR, ARE PROOF OF THAT.

IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO WORRY ABOUT SOMETHING, WORRY ABOUT GETTING CORONAVIRUS.

THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY ON CAT COUNTRY 98.