TUESDAY COMMENTARY – THE GOOD, THE GREAT & THE UGLY
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 & LTD Radio)
It’s Tuesday and that means another edition of the Good, the Great & the Ugly!
First the good: It’s now set in stone – the NHL’s Final Four, for the first time ever, features four Sunbelt teams: Dallas, Vegas, Florida & Carolina. This all came about thanks to the Stars’ 2-1 win over Seattle in Game 7 Monday night; a game where Stars rookie Wyatt Johnson became the youngest player ever (2o years, 1 day) to score a Game 7, series-clinching goal.
The closest the NHL ever came to this happening before was 2020, in the Edmonton bubble, when three of the four teams were from the South; Vegas, Dallas and Tampa Bay. The lone dissenter was the New York Islanders.
I think this is all very good, and the Eastern Conference Final begins Thursday in Raleigh.
Next, the great: It’s a joy following the CFL training camp coverage from across Canada. There is always something very special about training camps and above all I think it’s the exuberance and enthusiasm displayed by the players, coaches and fans.
For now, everyone’s in first place and this is probably the most optimistic time of the year.
Frankly it’s shocking how much my focus has shifted. After following the tiniest details of Rider camp for decades, I find myself now skimming over positional battles and daily highlight reports and simply pining for the exhibition games to start, and then obviously the regular season.
But it’s on the horizon, and that’s great.
And lastly, the ugly: This has gotta be a good thing; I’m sitting slumped over my laptop trying to find something ugly to comment on. But I can’t find it!
Maybe that comes from being in the Sunshine State where everybody’s happy, but it’s not just here. Farmers are hitting the field back home and it’s their season for optimism too.
Let’s take a minute to realize just how good things are right now.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, WQEE & Streaming)
Farmers may be out in the prairie field but it’s very dry out there as heat come early without narily any precipitation. Raging forest fires along with it’s smoke are causing major problems in Alberta Saskatchewan. It’s going to be a long summer with expected damaging storms caused by the intense heat and winds. Somehow the people of the prairies will get through it, we are a resilient bunch with high tolerance for things that may come our way, hell or high water.