TUESDAY RUNDOWN: COMMISSIONER RANDY AMBROSIE!

Tuesday was a big CFL day on The RP Show – Canada’s Daytime Sports Talkshow! Here’s the rundown:

• Rod and Dupes warmed up with The Warmup covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) A rehash of Randy Ambrosie’s State of the Union Address to kick off Grey Cup Unite on Monday, 2) Reports suggest some NHL owners don’t want to play in 2021 but Commissioner Gary Bettman is overruling them, 3) The Vikings outlast the Bears 19-13 on Monday Night Football, 4) Chris Paul is traded from OKC to the Phoenix Suns (get ready for lots of NBA talk), 5) Which leagues will play in 2021?, and 6) In advance of the CFL SIM Grey Cup on Saturday, RP reported that the virtual Riders are holding a closed practice on Tuesday and that we shouldn’t expect an update on QB Cody Fajardo who nicked his left knee in Saturday’s Division Final win at Edmonton.
• After getting bogged down in CFL/Covid talk, RP swung things in a different direction by asking viewers what their single-greatest Grey Cup memory is? His is obviously the 2013 Grey Cup but for Grey Cups that don’t involve the Riders, it was the 2001 championship game between the Stampeders and Blue Bombers in Montreal. Dupes’ was the 1995 Grey Cup at Taylor Field between the Stampeders and Stallions.
• The CFL on TSN’s Matthew Scianitti joined the show from his Toronto home. His takeaway from Ambrosie’s address was that the Commissioner was as forthright as he could be, given all the unknowns. The sideline reporter told stories from Grey Cups past and said his favourite was the 2017 game in Ottawa between the Argonauts and Stampeders. The snow bowl atmosphere was iconic, and the Argos were unlikely victors. Regarding his sideline duties, Scianitti said he’s routinely scorned by his TSN brethren for sporting Converse footwear at Grey Cups, and usually freezes his feet in the name of fashion. The Toronto product also expressed his disappointment at the cancellation of the 2020 Grey Cup and said that he would’ve liked to take part in the Grey Cup Parade with RP as marshall.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Which Western Canadian team has the best retro jerseys – Flames, Canucks, Oilers or Jets? At press time, the Oilers were leading on Twitter. RP quipped that theirs was the best of a bad lot.
• Hour 2 was simulcast on Game+ and Facebook Live and we were joined by CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie for a wide-ranging chat. RP stated that he was hoping to hear the Commissioner say they are eyeing several options including playing without fans and Ambrosie said that’s the case, but his intent was to be as positive as possible. The host concurred that that was most peoples’ takeaway from the address. Former CFL’er Chris Milo asked what the league is planning to do for the players and Ambrosie said they’re doing as much as possible, but asked for fan empathy for the owners since they didn’t get into the league to lose millions. Ambrosie reflected on a conversation with his Eskimos coach Ron Lancaster in 1994 where he predicted Randy would be the president of a company one day, but to play for as long as possible. RP said it would be prudent for current players to look at life-after-football sooner than they’d planned. Regarding financial aid from, or a partnership with the NFL, Ambrosie said that’s not being looked at right now. His discussions with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell involve Goodell saying the CFL should exhaust all efforts to be self-sustaining at this time. Regarding the free agency period in February, Ambrosie said it’ll be an “interesting” situation. He also said plans for a Global Draft are forthcoming, and he encourages Canadian players to further their careers in the LFA in Mexico.
• 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 12:00 pm ET on Wednesday!