WEDNESDAY COMMENTARY – THE SPIN DOCTORS
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98 & Rock 98.5 FM)
WHAT AN INTERESTING NIGHT IT WAS IN SPORTS!
HONESTLY, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT PEOPLE WHO DON’T FOLLOW SPORTS ARE INTERESTED IN, OR WHAT PASSES THEIR TIME. I’M SURE I’LL NEVER KNOW, AND THAT’S FINE.
SPEAKING OF FINE, IT APPEARS SOPHOMORE ROUGHRIDER QUARTERBACK MASON FINE WILL BE THE TOP BACK-UP TO CODY FAJARDO THIS SEASON.
IN TUESDAY NIGHT’S 25-16 PRESEASON LOSS TO WINNIPEG, FINE LED ALL RIDER PASSERS WITH 114 YARDS AND A TOUCHDOWN PASS. HE STARTED THE GAME AND THEN CAME BACK IN AT THE END, FROM WHAT I SAW.
BUT OF FAR GREATER INTEREST TO THOSE FOLLOWING THE GAME WAS THE WOEFUL ATTENDANCE AT MOSAIC STADIUM. IT CERTAINLY LOOKED SPARSE ON TV. MAYBE 7,500 WERE ON HAND, AT THE MOST.
I WONDERED ALOUD ON TWITTER IF PERHAPS IT’S TIME TO BRING BACK THE TV BLACKOUTS AND IT WAS MET WITH THE PREDICTABLE RESPONSE.
FULL BLAST.
AND I HEARD EVERY EXCUSE IN THE HANDBOOK INCLUDING “FARMERS ARE SEEDING”, “IT’S A TUESDAY NIGHT GAME”, “THE OILERS WERE PLAYING”, “IT’S ONLY PRESEASON”, “TICKETS COST REGULAR SEASON PRICES”, AND “THE COST OF GAS IS TOO HIGH”.
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
SPIN IT HOWEVER YOU WANT. IT STILL LOOKED LIKE A RAMS GAME. IN 2007 WE HAD 28,800 FOR A HOME PRESEASON GAME.
I GUESS TIMES HAVE CHANGED.
MEANWHILE OVER ON TNT, THE COLORADO AVALANCHE WERE BEATING THE EDMONTON OILERS 8-6 IN GAME 1 OF THE STANLEY CUP WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL.
ALL THE TALK COMING OUT OF THAT GAME WAS COLORADO’S CONTROVERSIAL THIRD GOAL BY CALE MAKAR WHICH WAS CLEARLY OFFSIDE.
THE NHL AND ITS PUNDITS WERE QUICK TO POINT OUT THE OFFSIDE RULE HAD BEEN AMENDED AND THIS WAS INDEED A GOOD GOAL.
SURE. MEANWHILE A SCREENSHOT OF THE PLAY SHOWED THE PUCK ON MAKAR’S STICK AND HIS TEAMMATE WAS ABOUT A FOOT OFFSIDE.
I DON’T CARE HOW YOU SPIN IT AND IT WAS A PRETTY BIG MOMENT IN A GAME WHICH WAS DECIDED BY TWO GOALS (ONE BEING AN EMPTY-NETTER).
OFFICIALS AND LEAGUES WILL GO TO WHATEVER LENGTHS IT TAKES TO COVER EACH OTHER’S BUTTS. I CAN’T DECIDE IF THAT’S ADMIRABLE OR NOT, VERSUS JUST BEING REAL/HONEST.
EITHER WAY, IT’S FUN TO DEBATE! LET’S SEE WHAT TONIGHT HAS IN STORE FOR US.
THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV across Canada and the USA. Call your cable provider for details. You can also watch on YouTube Live or listen 24/7 at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive)
Merle Haggard had that great song from 1982 “Are The Good Times Really Over” We are in a societal adjustment. The Roughriders will be fine, but I see a season average of 18,000 to 23,000 with a sell out on Labour Day. I also see a CEO most likely getting shown the door sooner rather than later as that guy is a ghost when it comes to the community outreach. If they want a new demographic. Preseason would have been a great time to comp the place with everyone associated with the Regina Open Door Society and Saskatoon Open Door… Read more »
I don’t know about the other stuff you wrote about but I totally agree the CEO needs to be shown the door.
Absolutely bonkers we spent all of that taxpayer money on the stadium when it’s looking like the league won’t survive…. just crazy.
I’m a season ticket holder and I took my kids to the game. As soon as we walked in the gate, everyone in our family and every other person there received a $10 gift certificate that could be used for food, merchandise and even beer! What an excellent promo for a postponed preseason game! Game wasn’t great but our family had a good time.
Midweek. People travel to games but mid week is tough with $2 gas. People still ticked about the labour bun-fight. Both sides ignored fans, took them for granted and basically walked all over their beating hearts. Some major suck up is required.
Farhan Lalji stated that the attendance for the Stamps game @ Commonwealth this Friday now stands @ 30,000 for the “Stand For Ukraine” promotion. Another Victor Cui idea that’s bringing fans out to the Elk game despite the Oiler fever. It’s not like Edmonton fans haven’t got other options with the current Oilers playoff push where they can sell tickets to the overflow @ Rogers Place to watch it on a big screen outside the rink. In Regina, according to articles written in the Leader Post in the past, we apparently haven’t sold out Mosaic consistently since year one. The… Read more »
Hi Rod I made a comment on twitter about the game being Tuesday night. It was an issue as was the 6:30 start time for us out of town fans. I drove in to the game but missed some of the first quarter. I was fortunate that work allowed me to only have a 90 minute drive into Regina that day rather than the usual 2 hour drive from home. Many of my friends that have season tickets didn’t attend because it was Tuesday and an early start time. Highway 33, usually with a train of cars heading home after… Read more »