WEDNESDAY CAT COUNTRY COMMENTARY – THE CFL IS CONFUSING

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(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary at 9:50 am and 5:20 pm on Cat Country 98 FM)

I KNOW THIS IS NOT BREAKING NEWS, BUT I FIND THE CFL INCREDIBLY CONFUSING.

IT WOULD SEEM, WITH THE 2020 CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE SEASON CANCELLED, THAT THERE IS EXACTLY NOTHING GOING ON ACROSS THIS COUNTRY IN PRO FOOTBALL AT THE MOMENT.

BUT THAT’S NOT TRUE. THERE’S A WAVE OF LAYOFFS GOING ON WITH SOME BEING REPORTED, AND OTHERS NOT. BUT THAT’S NOT SURPRISING EITHER.

NO, THE CONFUSING PART FOR ME IS THE TENOUS STATUS OF COMMISSIONER RANDY AMBROSIE. CFL INSIDER JUSTIN DUNK TOLD US ON THE ROD PEDERSEN SHOW THIS WEEK THAT THE COMMISSIONER IS FIGHTING FOR HIS JOB AND THERE’S ALREADY BEEN DISCUSSION ABOUT THE NEXT COMMISSIONER – AND IT COULD BE LONG-TIME NFL AND NBA EXECUTIVE KEN DERRETT.

I’M TRYING MY BEST TO BE A “CFL GUY” DESPITE THIS LEAGUE SHOOTING ITSELF IN THE FOOT TIME, AFTER TIME, AFTER TIME. I’VE GONE ON RECORD MULTIPLE TIMES AS A SUPPORTER OF AMBROSIE BUT MOST WON’T HEAR IT.

THEY POINT TO THE LOST SEASON, THE FUMBLING OF THE PRESENTATION TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND THE SEEMINGLY FAILED CFL 2.0 GLOBAL EXPERIMENT.

DOES IT MEAN ANYTHING THAT HIS INTENTIONS WERE GOOD?

APPARENTLY NOT.

SO IF I KEEP SUPPORTING AMBROSIE BECAUSE I LIKE HIM, DOES THAT MEAN I’M NOT A “GOOD CFL GUY?”

IT REMINDS ME OF GETTING CAUGHT IN A PINCH WHEN I TORCHED FORMER COMMISSIONER JEFFREY ORRIDGE AND WAS JOINED BY CHRIS JONES ON THAT PARADE. THEN I WAS HAULED INTO THE BOSS’S OFFICE AND LECTURED ABOUT SUPPORTING ORRIDGE EVEN THOUGH I KNEW HE WAS OVER HIS HEAD.

THE CFL’S BIGGEST PROBLEM HAS LONG BEEN CREDIBILITY AND ATTRACTING MAJOR NATIONAL SPONSORS. FIRING AMBROSIE AND HIRING A 7TH COMMISSIONER IN THE PAST 20 YEARS IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC DOESN’T EXACTLY SCREAM “STABILITY” TO ME.

THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY ON CAT COUNTRY 98.