RUSH - The Saskatchewan Rush disappointed in a big way two weeks ago when they opened the season in Halifax and were crushed by the Thunderbirds. The effort was better for the home opener against Rochester last Saturday but they still ended up blowing a fourth quarter lead leaving many questions about the ability to win faceoffs, get to loose balls, and will they get better goaltending from off-season acquisition Frank Scigliano, who struggled in both appearances. In game three, the Rush came through with their best performance of the season as they obliterated Las Vegas 17-5 with Scigliano stepping up with his best game of the year, stopping 88% of the shots that came his way. In addition, Ryan Keenan tied a franchise record with 9-assists and put up a career best 10-points to lead the way. Newcomer Zach Manns, acquired for franchise icon Mark Matthews in the summer, scored four more goals and has 17-points through 3-games to sit atop the team in a three way tie with Keenan and Robert Church. Patrick Dodds had a career best 7-assists and has 11-points in the early going. Jake Boudreau, who has become a major weapon on transition, had three more points and the team has reeled off 7 shorthanded goals already this season. To put that in perspective, they scored 5 shorthanded all of last year.
NLL - This won’t sit well with most of you, but as I watched the Rush game as well as bits and pieces of other NLL games on the weekend, I couldn’t help but think of how much more professional this league is than the CFL. The entire television package is big league while the CFL’s come across as community non-for-profit. Everything from cameras, audio, play by play announcers, analysts, and even a half time interview with the NLL Commissioner gave off a vibe of competence whereas the CFL spent almost the entire season launching their state of the art statistical program, which, to me, isn’t all that state of the art but maybe I need to spend more time on it. Amazon Prime is doing a documentary behind the scenes on the San Diego Seals. Why can’t the CFL get this kind of promotion?
NATHAN ROURKE - Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke, who has spent most of the season on the practice roster of the Jacksonville Jaguars, has been scooped up by the quarterback needy New England Patriots. With three games to go, my guess is Rourke gets a look. I understand there are lots of CFL fans who don’t think it’s wise for someone who can be the face of the league to ‘rot’ on a practice roster in the NFL but it’s a good business decision for any football player who has that opportunity. You also aren’t subjecting your body to the same level of abuse when you are on a practice roster all the while you are taking home comparable dollars.
DEFERRED MONEY - New Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani has deferred $680-million of his $700-million salary to be paid out, essentially, after he retires. The Dodgers have now committed $84-million a year to Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman well into their retirement years. If any team can afford it, it’s the Dodgers but that’s still a hefty amount to pay for players who are no longer playing.
KELCE/SWIFT CARBON FOOTPRINT - Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been garnering plenty of mainstream media attention since revealing his girlfriend to be Taylor Swift. Swift is well known for her music and also her virtual signaling. Kelce seems to be of a similar mindset as he’s sold his soul to peddle products for Pfizer on the side. As far as his actual production is concerned, it’s taken a noticeable dip since Swift came into his life. As far as Swift is concerned, she has burned so much carbon in the last three months (to watch Mr. Pfizer play) that it would take the planting of 2282 trees and those trees would need to be allowed to grow for 10 years to offset the damage she’s inflicted on the environment. This is why when elite people try to tell us how we need to live in order to save the planet, we really need to tell them to take their ideas and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. Either lead by example or shut up.
STATE OF THE COUNTRY - It’s no secret what has happened to this country but most don’t want to talk about it or even acknowledge it because at the end of the day, it’s not Justin Trudeau’s fault for turning this place into what it is now..it’s OUR fault for voting for his extremist political party not once, not twice, but three times. Almost everyone reading this will say, ‘but Mike I never voted Liberal’. You are right. Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes, and Vancouver voted Liberal. They are the ones responsible for this mess and it’s also why Canada simply doesn’t work anymore. If you are going to institute radical ideas such as internet censorship, mass unchecked immigration, confiscating firearms, banning gas vehicles, freezing bank accounts of political opponents, sky high taxes, etc. the reality is that those may be things that citizens of Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, and Vancouver want for their country. But it is not what the rest of the country wants. So what do we do? Nobody wants to be the bad guy and orchestrate a ‘separation’ but there does need to be A LOT more autonomy from the federal government. In Saskatchewan, Scott Moe will talk a good game but he and his government fall way short when it comes to action. He’s got most of you fooled for now though so I don’t anticipate much changing. You will have better luck calling your friends in Toronto and asking them not to vote for Trudeau’s so-called Liberals.
WE MAY BE OUT OF TIME - There are a lot of folks in Saskatchewan who watch the 338Canada website as it’s a pretty accurate portrayal of what will happen come election time. For now, the Conservatives are well into majority government territory but there are still two full years of further desecration before anyone goes to the polls and it’s not insane to think elections may not even be a thing by the Fall of 2025. We’ve seen frozen bank accounts on people who oppose Trudeau politically. We’ve seen no such action on masked terrorists who threaten to kill police officers (such as the case this weekend) on a live mic while being filmed. This is what we are now and I think it’s probably beyond mental comprehension to think what we will be by the Fall of 2025. Personally, I’m frightened for our future. Lots of you are rolling your eyes and laughing at my concerns but I warned right after Trudeau won in 2015 that we’d, eventually, become a communist country and we are pretty much there now.
JAGMEET - The real culprit for allowing the country to further worsen is Jagmeet Singh. The only plausible explanation for him to continue propping up Trudeau is that he’s on the receiving end of dirty money personally. If it’s not that, he’s the dumbest political figure of my lifetime and he’s got some stiff competition to climb over to achieve that moniker. The NDP has received no benefit for standing by Trudeau to prevent the triggering of an election. Singh, at any time, can pull his support for the federal government and it would be election season. He, despite many opportunities and valid reasons to do so, has refused to do it even though he puts out the odd Tweet expressing his disgust. I can’t make up my mind who’s worse for the country. Singh or Trudeau. It’s close. Yet, when you add the votes together…nearly half of the country STILL supports one of these two evil monsters.
I DO believe we must separate. There is no reconciliation with Eastern Canada. As far as I can tell, the RULING CLASS in Ottawa tax the prosperous West to buy votes in the East. They have the population and they get THE GOODIES. All the federal government needs to do is keep giving more and more INVESTMENTS to more and more people - and they will vote for them. As one Liberal once stated: TO HELL WITH THE WEST - WE'LL TAKE THE REST. We are in a very bad marriage and it is time for a DIVORCE.
Your view on the state of the country, although would of been considered
extreme and even nutty before years of Trudeau has become very common.
The Liberals have made many of us separatists in a confederation which is unworkable and probably never will be again!