WEDNESDAY SHOW RECAP: GURLEY ON GRONK

We covered all the hottest sports topics on Episode #218 of The Rod Pedersen Show on Wednesday! Here are the highlights:

• Rod and Dupes opened with The Rollout for Flooring Superstore touching on these Quick Six show topics: 1) Rob Gronkowski being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2) Why do the stars want out of New England?, 3) The Regina Pats sign #1 pick, Exceptional Player Connor Bedard, 4) The NHL potentially moving up the Draft to accommodate July/August playoffs, 5) The Lions signing kicker Sergio Castillo (is this becoming a players’ market?), and 6) The SJHL will award the 2020 Canalta Cup based off of a PS4 simulation.
• Rod explained the SJHL’s decision to continue their 2020 playoffs where they left off, albeit on a computer simulation and the reasons why. They have sponsors to appease, they’d like to drum up some excitement, and fans are looking for something to fill the hockey void.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Is it right for the SJHL to award the Canalta Cup based on a computer simulation? Initially over 90% of respondents said no but that number dropped after Rod explained the reasons behind the initiative.
• The Athletic’s Canada co-editor James Mirtle joined the show from his home in Toronto to discuss the latest in the NHL. He feels NHL types are very optimistic about the conclusion to the 2019-20 season simply because they have no choice. He believes there’s a good chance it’ll happen but doesn’t think they’ll use neutral sites (that was confirmed later in the day by the NHL). James talked about growing up in Kamloops and how the Blazers were the biggest reason for his love of the game. Rod told Mirtle he’d love to see more CFL and junior hockey coverage by The Athletic and James said he would too.
• Regina Pats President and c0-owner (and alum) Todd Lumbard joined the show via phone to discuss the signing of Connor Bedard, and what it means to the franchise. He feels hockey fans in southern Saskatchewan are slowly starting to understand how big of a deal it is to land the WHL’s first-ever Exceptional Player. He also explained what the Exceptional Player distinction means.
• 3DownNation Winnipeg correspondent John Hodge joined the show via video chat and talked about the possibilities for a 2020 CFL season, explained the Bombers’ QB situation behind Zach Collaros, and Buck Pierce taking over offensive coordinator duties from Paul LaPolice.
• RP Show NFL Insider Tori Gurley (Browns, Packers, Bills) joined the show to talk about the Gronk-to-Tampa scenario. He feels expectations will be sky-high for Brady’s Bucs but said without the benefit of OTA’s, the Buccaneers offense will be slow out of the gate. He also talked about the Patriot Way, and that Bill Belichick isn’t phased by the exits of Brady and Gronkowski. Tori also previewed the NFL Draft and told some funny stories from his time in The League. (He recounted how he ran up a huge room service charge on Christmas Eve at the Ritz Carlton the night before a workout with the Pittsburgh Steelers).
• The guys closed the show discussing the futures of the CFL and NFL, and remained positive that the players will be on the field sooner than later. Some fans fear the demise of the CFL because of Coronavirus but Rod advised that they didn’t build new stadiums in half the markets for them to sit empty.
• You can vote now on the Rockstar of the Day Twitter poll for RoxDar Supply Chain Solutions. At press time, Todd Lumbard was leading! Nik Lewis won Tuesday’s vote.
• 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 the 24-hour livestream at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive presented by SUDS Full Service Car Wash.
• See you at 10 am MT on Thursday on Facebook Live and RodPedersen.com/ListenLive!