TUESDAY COMMENTARY: THEY WIN
Photo: Willy's Taphouse
(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)
It’s Tuesday and that means it’s time for another edition of the Good, the Great & the Ugly!
First the good: What could be finah than having the Stanley Cup in Regina?
Having it in Estevan of course. The NHL’s championship trophy visited the Energy City for a second time this summer/fall when Golden Knights scout Jim McKenzie brought it to his adopted hometown Monday night at Willy’s Taphouse & Tower Restaurant. (Jim’s an RCMP brat and his parents retired in Estevan).
Earlier this summer, Golden Knights defenceman Brayden Pachal brought the trophy to his hometown too. Why they wouldn’t have killed two birds with one stone, I have no idea, but pretty sure Estevan isn’t complaining.
Next the great: Monday’s news was major cause for celebration; Flag Football will become an Olympic sport beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles games.
I’m happy for lacrosse too, which earned the same distinction on Monday, but it’s Flag Football we’ve become involved with – through a partnership with USA Football – and the road to L.A. is going to be a fun one over the next five years. It’ll be here before you know it!
For those screaming “It’s not football!” … we can’t hear you.
And lastly the ugly: I’ve accepted that a very large number of people in sports are just never going to get it. Or at least, we’re never going to see things the same way. They’re what I’m calling the “anti-hype” crowd.
They’re the ones who made me stop doing Roughriders interviews in the off-season back in the day because the team needed a break, or the ones telling me to pipe down with the Bedard hype when he was coming to Regina four years ago. They actually sat me down and told me that. (post-Hopson era, of course)
Back then, unfortunately, I had to comply. But not anymore.
You can be sick all you want of the Bedard Mania that’s going on right now, but 1.43-million people tuned in on ESPN for Connor’s Blackhawks debut last week making it the most-viewed NHL regular season game ever.
Hype sells tickets and draws eyeballs. Anti-hype gets you empty stadiums and arenas.
They won. I guess.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 5 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)
Lacrosse… a real sport, the other not so much, a good pass time for children maybe , call it aerial oval ball or something because there’s no tackling or blocking two key elements of the real thing. Now here that.
*hear*
Lacrosse – what do you mean call it aerial over ball? Lacrosse is Lacrosse, why would you want to change the name to a stupid name like ariel over ball ? Do tell. Gary Gait of Victoria BC Canada is considered one of the best players ever to grace his presence in the game of Lacrosse both sides of the border and is Internationally renowned for inventing the move called Air Gait amongst a myriad of other accomplishments (look him up). ariel over ball? give your head a shake.
I said lacrosse was a real sport , the other I referred to was flag football.