TUESDAY RUNDOWN: A BONANZA!

We had all kinds of big name guests dropping in and out of Episode #347 of The RP Show – Canada’s Daytime Sports Talk Show – on Tuesday! Here’s the rundown:

• Rod and Dupes opened with The Warmup covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) BC Lions owner David Braley passes at age 79, 2) Edmonton sports icon Joey Moss passes at age 57, 3) Monday Night Football: Rams trounce the Bears 24-10, 4) More on WHL players joining SJHL teams, 5) The World Series could end Tuesday evening, and 6) It’s the final week of the CFL SIM regular season with several must-win games.
• A bonus point was our Top 7 NHL Canadian teams and here are Rod’s: 1) Calgary, 2) Montreal, 3) Edmonton, 4) Winnipeg, 5) Toronto, 6) Vancouver, 7) Ottawa. Dupes and Producer Clark shared theirs and they asked for viewers to submit theirs.
• BC Lions Director of Communications Matt Baker joined the show from Vancouver to talk about David Braley, the man. RP said Braley’s resume speaks for itself but wanted Matt to tell us what he was like as a person. Baker said all of his discussions with Braley over the years were about life, rather than football. He told stories of Braley having the entire Lions team to his Hamilton home for supper over the years, and how much he loved CFL football. He agreed with Rod that Braley was more than a legend in the CFL. He WAS the CFL for the past 30 years.
• TSN’s James Duthie joined the show to discuss his new book Beauties, chronicling the best hockey stories from the greats of the game. It’s available in all bookstores now. Duthie explained why he avoids political statements on Twitter unlike some of his TSN colleagues because he doesn’t want to alienate his followers. Regarding this year’s World Juniors in Edmonton, Duthie has his travel plans booked and is ready for the highlight of his year. He feels the only hang-up is getting the teams into Canada. After that, he’s confident they’ll be safe inside the Edmonton bubble. Duthie also told some stories of David Braley since James hosted the CFL on TSN panel for many years.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Which is Canada’s Game of the Week in the final week of CFL SIM action – Sask at Calgary, Edmonton at Toronto, Winnipeg at Montreal or BC at Hamilton? At press time, the overwhelming leader was Riders/Stamps.
• Hour 2 was broadcast on Facebook Live only and we were joined by Stanley Cup champion and veteran analyst Nick Kypreos, host of the Real Kyper podcast. The veteran of 442 NHL games talked about how much fun he’s having with his new show and admitted that he’s free of corporate restraints at Sportsnet. He listed his Top 7 Canadian teams and has Calgary at #1. He said anyone who puts the Maple Leafs on top is affected by network pressure. As a veteran of both the OJAHL and OHL, Kyper said the issue of WHL/Junior A player transfers boils down to the “trickle-down effect” and everyone’s doing what’s best for themselves in the current hockey climate. The Toronto product promoted his book Undrafted which chronicles his life story of perseverance. RP asked for Nick’s best story from the 1994 Stanley Cup champion Rangers and he said it was when Mark Messier talked him into cancelling a haircut appointment to take the Stanley Cup to a Yankees game and hang out with New York baseball greats.
• Regina Pats head coach Dave Struch joined the show and promptly told the story of his first NHL game being at Madison Square Garden as a member of the Calgary Flames against Kypreos’s Rangers. Calgary won the game, snapping New York’s 17-game win streak. Struch talked about the play of Connor Bedard in Sweden, why he’s confident the WHL will begin play on January 8, and examined the struggle between developing players and winning in today’s WHL.
• Trinity Western Spartans mens hockey coach Barret Kropf joined the show from Langley to break the news that Trinity Western, Simon Fraser University and UBC will faceoff in the Captains Cup next month in Vancouver. He said his players are all excited to get into games after months of practicing. The Estevan product also admitted the disappointment in the cancellation of the Canada West season since this was to be the Spartans’ first in the conference.
• You can vote now on our Twitter poll for the Rockstar of the Day for RoxDar Supply Chain Solutions. At press time, Nick Kypreos was leading. Monday’s vote was won by Tara Slone.
• Tuesday’s show is available for viewing now on our Facebook page, you can catch the replay at 4:00 pm ET on Game+, listen to the podcast by clicking on the CONTENT tab at the top of this page, or listen anytime to our 24-hour live audio feed at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive.
• See you at 10 am MT on Wednesday!