Some Further Thoughts on GC98

Its the morning after. You know I don't feel as bad after this year's loss as I do last. I guess its because I know that on this night the better football team won the football game. It still stings, but last year, it seemed as if Saskatchewan had a football hangover that lasted for a couple of weeks. I don't think that is the case today.

Having had a night to sleep on things and add some info from last night's post-game post, here ya go

1) The loss is terrible for the Rider Nation, but as we found out after the game, it is just a game. Anthony Calvillo is once again dealing with something that puts football on the backburner for him. Revealing that he will undergo surgery after doctors found a cancerous lesion on his thyroid gland. Its something he played through after finding out about it when he was hurt earlier this season. This made the game secondary to many after the game. This is almost a bigger story this morning.

2)Kudos to TSN for once again giving Canadians a Grade A plus performance with their coverage of the game including pre and post-game. The piece about the Riders season leading up to GC Sunday was outstanding and left me with goose bumps.

3) Where does Brian Williams find the information out about the stories he does? The story on Andy Fantuz and his calf injury that just about resulted in him losing a leg while he was at Western is something I didn't know about. Did any of the Regina media know about it? He's been here long enough so you would think the LP would have had something years ago. His pipeline of information is astounding.

4)The turning point to me was not the fake punt. It was the interception taken off the board by Byron Bullock. It was pass interference and I'm not going to debate that, but on the next play, A-C found Richardson on the deep ball to put it at the Rider 2. If Bullock intercepts that pass, the game would have had a different outcome.

5) A lot of people are talking about the fact Ken Miller didn;t try any long field goals and that if Luca Congi had been there, he would have. I don't know. If you remember the regular season games, Congi missed two long field goals that Tim Maypray took back for touchdowns. Montreal seemed content to play a game of field position and Miller took that stance. I don't blame Miller for that at all. In fact, I might have done the same thing no matter who my kicker was.

6) Speaking of Miller, I hope he comes back for another season, but I certainly understand if he doesn't. I've said it before in this forum, but I have nothing but the greatest respect for the man. I think he gets a raw deal from many outside the province. All he has done since coming here in 2007 is be a part of three Grey Cup teams.

7) I can't be overly critical of this team this morning. They got beat by a very good football club. I didn't think they would lose after last year, but they did. I thought the Alouettes whiny take on the week was a little over the top because of the class that organization has, but when it came to doing what they had to do on the field, they did it. You have to tip your hat to them. They were the best team in the CFL this year and they proved it on GC Sunday.

8) Can we have Chapter 3 in Vancouver in November between these two. The gap is shrinking in both conferences and if we do have Riders-Als Pt 3 at BC Place in the 99th GC, it will be an accomplishment for both teams.