Tuesday Commentary: The Good, The Great & The Ugly

(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on the All New Hits 98 CKHD & LTD Radio)

It’s Tuesday and that means it’s time for the Good, the Great & the Ugly. Today we got some good ones!

First the good: After a roller coaster of a regular season, the NFL Playoffs are finally at hand. They call the upcoming Wildcard Weekend the best weekend of the year in football, and I’d have to agree.

There’s a Saturday playoff doubleheader featuring the Chargers at Texans followed by the Steelers at Ravens.

Sunday features a triple-bill … Broncos at Bills, Packers at Eagles, and finishing with the Commanders at the Buccaneers.

And it concludes Monday night with the Vikings at the Rams.

Next the great: It is absolutely beautiful when a plan comes together. And that seems to be happening with the Montreal Canadiens.

The Habs topped the Canucks 5-4 in OT Monday on a Nick Suzuki goal at the Bell Centre, and that moved Montreal into a playoff spot for the first time this season.

It’s Year 4 of a rebuild for the NHL’s winningest all-time team, and it appears the train has pulled into the station.

And finally, the ugly: It’s not ugly necessary but it sucks when the sports world says good-bye to its legends.

The NHL and Calgary Flames jointly announced the passing of 4-time Stanley Cup champion Al MacNeil at age 89.

He won three Cups with Montreal and another with Calgary. Al’s got several claims to fame, including being the last-ever coach of the Atlanta Flames and first-ever coach of the Calgary Flames. He’s an absolute icon.

And it was saddening to learn of the passing of longtime Roughriders spotter and statsman Lorne Shmyr over the Holidays. Lorne was as good of a football man as you’d find and we worked literally hundreds of games together at Taylor Field and the new Mosaic Stadium.

Lorne’s claim to fame might’ve been being the high school coach of Jim Hopson at Thom Collegiate.

Who’s gonna fill their shoes, indeed.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 4 pm ET on Game+TV, Podcast & YouTube Live)