CFL commissioner presents rosy outlook to Regina crowd

The event was billed as “Randy’s Road Trip,” but Craig Reynolds nearly stole the show with a trip of his own.

After being called to the stage, the Saskatchewan Roughriders president and CEO stumbled for a moment, only to deftly avoid a complete wipeout Saturday afternoon at Mosaic Stadium’s Harvard 620 Lounge.

“Did you see that athleticism?” Reynolds quipped, to the amusement of the gallery.

“We would have preferred if you had fallen,” joked CKRM’S Luc Mullinder, who hosted the proceedings. “It would have gone viral right away.”

Truth be told, Reynolds’ averted mishap was the only stumble of the session.

Reynolds, Roughriders GM Jeremy O’day and CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie handled themselves with aplomb.

There wasn’t any breaking news — nor were there any broken limbs, thankfully — but there was plenty of uplifting chatter, not to mention some levity.

Consider O’day’s response to a question posed by avid Roughriders fan Tristan Oremba, who inquired: “How do you like Cody Fajardo as the quarterback for your Roughriders this season?”

“How do I like him?” O’day responded. “Well, we’re thinking about trading him. We haven’t quite got enough for him yet.” (Cue laughter.)

“We feel very good about him,” O’day continued. “The nice part of coming into the year is to know that we have a quarterback who we feel is our franchise quarterback who is coming off a successful year.

“We also feel that he can grow and improve as a player. It’s nice to come into the year starting off with him as our starter. Hopefully he’ll come back in and start off where he left off last year.”

Ambrosie picked up where he left off at previous stops on his third annual cross-country trek.

There was more hype than substance, in many cases, but that’s to be expected from a feel-good event that is, by nature, more interactive than informative.

Before O’day, Reynolds and Ambrosie fielded questions from the predominantly green-clad gallery, the commissioner delivered a 20-minute presentation that emphasized the virtues of Canadian professional football and, as expected, the league’s global initiative — CFL 2.0.

As it stands, the league is affiliated with 14 other football-playing nations. The second global draft will soon be held. This coming season, teams will be required to dress two global players — one more than in 2019.

“At a time when the world seems determined to pull itself apart, we can pull it together,” Ambrosie said. “We can build bridges instead of walls.”

This is the league, after all, that brought us Brandon Bridge and Tyrone Walls.

Enough madcap comedy. We now return you to Ambrosie, who jokingly referred to himself as “the best commissioner in the CFL.”

Ambrosie’s other show-stopper referenced the post-super Bowl tradition and one irksome description of the NFL champion.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” he began, “but I listen to and watch championships that are won in the U.S., and the trophy is always presented with ‘world champions.’ And I say to that: ‘world champions, my (posterior).’”

The crowd erupted.

It was a triumphant visit by the nomadic commissioner — no ifs, ands or butts about it.