The Rouge White & Blue CFL podcast

After the110th Grey Cup, after co-host Joe Pritchard’s return from Cup-hosting Hamilton, after US Thanksgiving Weekend, the Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast has finally reassembled the team of two to wrap the 2023 CFL season, take a tiny peek ahead to 2024, and, oh yes, discuss the actual Grey Cup game itself. Said Grey Cup of course resulted in a stunning victory by RWB co-host Os Davis’s favored Montreal Alouettes over Joe’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers – but Os manages to keep the trashtalk to an absolute minimum as the RWB just generally marvelous over the solid football action that was the 110th Grey Cup championship. And what CFL fan this time of year could resist idly speculating about next year? (After all, it’s what we’ll be doing for a good six months, anyway.) Joe cautions Os about fretting over the semi-offiical “potential CFL free agents list,” and explains with a single word the motivation behind the investigation into the Edmonton Elks’ club management structure. Join the RWB as we take one final look back at the 2023 season – at least as far as Joe and the Bomber backers are concerned… The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: Touchdown, Tyson Philpot!

Usual Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast co-host Joe Pritchard is up in Hamilton this week to enjoy the Grey Cup week festivities, our man across the Pacific, Greg St. James of Gridiron Japan subs in as co-host. Greg joins Os Davis to discuss once again what else but the 110th Grey Cup in which the surprising Montreal Alouettes look to keep the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from winning a third ’Cup in four seasons. Really, though, Greg is aboard to convince Os that (a) his Als have a fighting chance in this game, and (b) that his betting on the game (Monteal now +8, over/under 47 points) isn’t completely bananas. And with two sports history junkies podcasting, the RWB puts the 2023 season in perspective and some time is spent on spring football and all that stuff about a CFL/XFL merger. (Ancient times now, it seems…) Enjoy this last bit of speculation from the RWB and have a great Grey Cup! The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: It’s time.

For the Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast, this Grey Cup feels like the culmination of years’ worth of our tit-for-tat chatting. This edition of what we’re calling the RWB Cup pits co-host Joe Pritchard’s dominating Winnipeg Blue Bombers in their fourth consecutive championship game against Os Davis’s plucky Montreal Alouettes for all the marbles. Like most of CFL fandom, Os is still a bit gobsmacked by the Alouettes’ upset victory over the mighty Toronto Argonauts and he’s trying to find a way to financially justify backing the awesome defense of the Alouettes as 7½-point underdogs in the big game. Meanwhile, Joe’s feeling some shoe-on-other-foot sentiment, as he harkened back to 2019 back when the Bombers were the unheralded team in the ‘Cup looking for the big upset. Between the two, the RWB recaps the divisional finals, sum up the seasons of the vanquished Argos and BC Lions, and make picks ‘n’ predictions for the 2023 Grey Cup. The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: Looking to the brilliant finish for a fascinating 2023 season…

This has got to be some sort of record: On this episode of the Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast co-hosts Joe Pritchard and Os Davis are joined by Greg St. James, co-host of the Gridiron Japan podcast. Could this be the first-ever podcast recorded from three countries – none of which are Canada, and all three on different continents, no less – across 15 time zones. This epic collaboration spans a global breadth of topics: At front and center are epitaphs to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders and kudos to the victorious Montral Alouettes and BC Lions led by Superman Vernon Davis. The RWB chases this with a preview of the conference final games in Winnipeg and Toronto, while Os considers the betting options. (The Als are really 11-point underdogs? Really?!?!?) Finally, Greg expounds upon other topics such as the mania of Japanese baseball, the XFL and the X-League, Japan’s own professional league (since 1971 – no joke). It’s epic stuff! The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: Spanning the wide world of, uh, Canadian football…

Welcome to the 2023 CFL playoffs! Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast co-hosts Joe Pritchard and Os Davis again experience the paradoxical simultaneous feeling that this Canadian football season started eons again, yet is ending far too quickly. The beginning of the end of said 2023 CFL season kicks off on Saturday with the semifinal round of the playoffs, with the no.2-seeded home teams each favourites: the Montreal Alouettes are giving 3 points versus the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, while the Calgary Stampeders get (a possibly too meager) 6½ points at BC Lions. RWB makes the case for each of the four teams, what will be required for an upset in either game and, for what it’s worth, suggestions on betting the two games. Chalk or ‘dogs? The RWB’s got answers. OK, educated guesses, anyway. The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: Playoffs?!?!??!

With one more week to play in the 2023 CFL season, the week 20 results in and shakeups already gone down in Roughriders land, the Rouge White & Blue Podcast assesses some final trends going into the playoffs. For example, the suddenly much clearer path for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to come out of the West, the reasons why BC Lions are ripe for an upset at the hands of the Calgary Stampeders in round one, the Toronto Argonauts on the verge of football history and whether there’s hope for the future of the Ottawa Redblacks. And as piqued as RWB co-hosts Joe Pritchard and Os Davis are for the playoffs, damned if they’re not gonna miss this Canadian football thing in a few weeks… The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: On Canadian football past, present and future

The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast certainly hopes those football fans who love high-scoring wild rides were tuned into the Canadian game in week 19 because the points mostly came in bunches and no lead was safe. With the 2023 CFL playoffs just about concretized into shape, RWB co-hosts Joe Pritchard and Os Davis consider if maybe the season isn’t a tad too long (heresy, we know) but nevertheless find some intrigue remaining in the season. As we all await some potentially dandy matchups in those playoffs, the RWB wonders about what’s happening with those Saskatchewan Roughriders and their baffling 6-game losing streak, in what historical context we should be viewing the Toronto Argonauts and whether the Montreal Alouettes can give the Argos a game in the postseason. RWB then goes on to pick ‘n’ predict the week 20 games and try to provide the waning of attention a few reasons to tune into a lighter slate of games – aside from rubbernecking the Regina trainwreck, that is… The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: Drawing a historical season to a close…

Despite the season winding to a close with most playoff spots settled, the Rouge White & Blue Podcast remains fascinated. RWB co-hosts were knocked out this week by the dominance of the historically (in both sense of the word) mind-blowing Toronto Argonauts, the edge-of-seat thrills in week 18’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs. BC Lions game and the surprisingly slick play of both the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Week 18 may have solidified the CFL playoff picture even further, but the RWB still has lots of enthusiasm and lots of reasons to watch the 2023 season’s three remaining weeks of play – which is not to say we’re not looking forward to what should be some dandy playoff games. The RWB analyzes week 18, looks to the future of a hapless Canadian franchise or two, and picks the week 19 games with an eye on the still-evolving playoff picture. The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: Talking playoffs?!?!?!

The Rouge White & Blue Podcast finds itself, along with the rest of CFL fandom, in a very strange bit of the season indeed. In general, co-hosts Os Davis and Joe Pritchard look back on a week 17 in which the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats clinched playoff spots while the Ottawa Redblacks and Calgary Stampeders juuuuuuuust about got eliminated after losses – thereby leaving us all with five of six spots taken (and the Saskatchewan Roughriders barely able to avoid snagging the last available slot. So where does this leave the league and its fans for four more weeks of football? The RWB takes a look forward at what to look forward to in those remaining games while wondering what we should take from week 17, particularly a somewhat lackluster win for Joe’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers over essentially the Toronto Argonauts second string. What’s left to the 2023 season? The RWB’ll tell ya! The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: Wishing everyone a happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast retains both co-hosts, i.e. Joe Pritchard and Os Davis, yet still manage to host a guest as well – and not just any guest but already-legendary CFL-themed video maestro Coach Phil. Phil joins the RWB for a few biographical notes, but mostly to talk the 2023 CFL season, speculate on the 2023 CFL postseason, plus break down the games of week past and attempt to pick ‘em for the next in the RWB style. But hey, have we mentioned Coach Phil is our guest? He brings plenty of what’s made him a name in CFL-centric social media: Optimism for Tre Ford and his Elks, contagious enthusiasm for this year’s final weeks of games, his concern for the fate of his Saskatchewan Roughriders and one most excellent rant about the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and their … uh … you’ll just have to hear it for yourselves. The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: Wondering how good this 2023 Grey Cup’ll be…

To no one’s great surprise, the Rouge White & Blue Podcast loves CFL football – but after a particularly intriguing week which saw the unquestionable return of “No Lead Is Safe” gameplay (hopefully permanently), even co-host Joe Pritchard after a stunning loss by his Winnipeg Blue Bombers has to dig on the Canadian league. Along with the raves come the rants – well, one rant at least. Specifically, co-host Os Davis venting about his Montreal Alouettes’ pitiable play on the offensive line which cost the Als another win and handed the East division’s top seed to the mighty Toronto Argonauts. The RWB also runs down all the week 15 games and attempts to forecast week 16 in this seemingly increasingly unpredictable league (we thought this was supposed to get *easier* as the season grinds down), but mercifully no betting angles from the ever-colder Os – but hey, it’s not about the money; it’s about the fun, right? Right?!?!!? The Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast: We love *this* game.

As that professional football league south of the border kicks off this week, the Canadian Football League heads into the homestretch, with 70% of the 2023 season in the books – just in time for the return of co-host Os Davis back into the Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast booth. Meanwhile, co-host Joe Pritchard comes to us live from Winnipeg, where his beloved Blue Bombers scorched the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the fourth consecutive year in the Banjo Bowl game. Joe’s ventures to Winnipeg are already a set tradition for the game; could a Bombers blowout become the new tradition? Joe and Os take stock of the 2023 season to the seven-tenths point, wonder how hot the Edmonton Els (no, really) can get with Tre Ford at the helm, consider the sparse playoff scenarios, and probably futilely attempt to pick and predict next week’s games. The Rouge White & Blue Podcast: Always attempting to avoid the trap game…

Once again, you're stuck with Joe Pritchard running the show (don't worry, with Sunday games being off the schedule going forward, it'll be easier to get Os Davis back in the game), and Josh Smith joined him to discuss the Labour Day weekend games, this week's rematch games, and Joe's travel plans for this weekend and beyond.

Andrew Bucholtz from Awful Announcing and The Comeback is Os Davis's fill in this week, and beyond the usual reviews and previews, the conversation drifted towards quarterback development at all levels of football, of course, with an emphasis on how it affects the Canadian game.

Joe Pritchard is still without Os Davis, but the Turf District offered up Superfan Mike and 3 Down Nation's Andrew Hoskins, and the timing couldn't have been better after Edmonton's first win. We cover that plus our normal reviews and previews, with a lot of laughs in between.

Traditional Rouge White & Blue CFL Podcast co-host Os Davis has been traveling the ‘States and jumping the pond, but he’s not completely out of touch. To prove it, he pops in for an extra episode of the RWB joining co-host Joe Pritchard to catch up on August in the Canadian Football League. So the RWB talks stuff like how virtually every team aside from the Toronto Argonauts has had a chance of QB in the past month; what in Buono’s name is up with the massive separation between the dominance of the big three and the questionable competence of the bottom five plus the mysterious Montreal Alouettes; and just how much of the Saskatchewn Roughriders are a juggernaut waiting to jugger – or naut. And even in Europe can a CFL fan suffer the torments of CFL football and enjoy the benefits of properly betting games – so Os weighs in on his week 11 picks in response to Joe ‘n’ Dalts’s of episode 238. And yes, for the record: this episode was indeed recorded before the Edmonton-Hamilton game. The RWB Podcast: The best Canadian football podcast from two countries that are not Canada.

Trey Colbeck from Canadian Football Countdown joined Joe Pritchard this week, and the two Bombers fans recapped last week, previewed the upcoming week, and discussed various other CFL topics, including how passion is a double-edged sword in the Prairies.

Os Davis continues to be on the injured list, so Joe Pritchard brought in Robert Dalton from the Rouge Radio show on the Canadian Football Podcast Network to do the usual weekly roundup. We get to Ottawa's questionable decision making a little later than expected, but we do get there. Meanwhile, two of the league's titans have an off week, and is Saskatchewan's receiving corps underrated?

Once again, Joe Pritchard reached into the bag of Canadian Football Podcast Network hosts, and this week brought Travis Currah of the 2 and Out Podcast. Travis and Joe recap week 8 and set up week 9.

Os Davis is on assignment, but Josh Smith from 3 Down Nation stepped in to assist Joe Pritchard in breaking down Week 7, preview Week 8, and along the way, enjoyed the usual podcast diversions, deep dives, and failed once again to provide the answers to all of life's burning questions, except where the CFL is concerned, of course.