WEDNESDAY RUNDOWN: MADANI, ABOU-MECHREK AND MORE

The sports world keeps turning and we covered the latest on Canada’s Daytime Sports Talk Show, the RP Show! Here are the highlights from Episode #290:

• Rod and Dupes opened with The Rollout for Flooring Superstores covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) Tuesday’s NHL playoff games; the winners were Nashville, Calgary, Vancouver, NY Islanders, Toronto and Carolina, 2) A look at Wednesday’s slate featuring the Oilers and Blackhawks, 3) Golden Knights Insider Gary Lawless says this format is so great, can it be used for years to come?, 4) The Blue Jays get stomped 10-1 at Atlanta, 5) The Raptors face Orlando Wednesday evening in the NBA bubble, and 6) How do we feel about Sportsnet’s NHL broadcasts? (The panel loves them).
• Segment 2 featured visits with Sportsnet’s Arash Madani and CFL alum Mike Abou-Mechrek. The pair reminisced about their days with the Ottawa Renegades, Arash surmised that the Raptors are emerging as legit NBA contenders, the Blue Jays’ outlook may be bleak in 2020 but P Nate Pearson is the real deal (Roy Halladay-like), and Arash said the CFL is running out of time fast to get a season in.
• Rod and Abou covered the CFL/MLSE story that RP unearthed on Tuesday and they feel this is the best possible thing for the CFL whatwith MLSE’s wealth, power in Canadian sports, and relationships with national sponsors. Abou – a Toronto product – said like it or not, Toronto is the centre of Canada and if it’s behind the CFL, this could be the answer to everyone’s prayers.
• Hour 2 was broadcast on Facebook Live only and we were joined by Edmonton Oilers P.A. Announcer Al Stafford. The longtime Edmonton sportscaster took us deep into the ins and outs of the NHL’s Edmonton bubble and explained how and why team staff have different access than game day staff. He also discussed the differences between announcing regular NHL games and these current matches without fans. Al and Rod became good friends over many years in the CFL and Stafford said that while he doesn’t announce “Eskimo” games anymore (his last season was 2018), he feels a name change was in order if it offended some groups.
• Sportsnet fantasy sports analyst Andy McNamara joined the show to discuss the pending NFL season (RP feels that if the NHL, MLB and NBA are back then the NFL will assuredly kickoff as well), and examined the situations in New England and Cleveland. The guys also touched on fantasy sports and how the cornerstone to it all is the NFL. McNamara is the former voice of the NLL’s Toronto Rock and CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and brushed on those leagues.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision centre poll question was: Are you struggling to get into the NHL playoffs since it’s summer time? At press time over 60% of respondents said no
• You can vote now on our Twitter poll for the Rockstar of the Day for RoxDar Supply Chain Solutions. At press time, Abou was leading. Tuesday’s vote was won by Vernon Adams Jr.
• Wednesday’s show is available for viewing now on our Facebook page, you can listen to the podcast by clicking on the PODCAST tab at the top of this page, or you can listen anytime to our 24-hour live audio stream at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive.
• See you at 10 am MT Thursday on Game+ TV Network, Facebook Live and RodPedersen.com/ListenLive!