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Sunday, August 17, 2014

Something To "Mitch" About



"Would you rather us throw for 500 yards and lose?" That is the question Rob Bagg posed to everyone who was grumbling about the performance of the offence on Saturday night as the Riders won an ugly one 16-11 over Montreal. Bagg is absolutely right. Whether you win a football game 1-0 or 5-4 as was the case at one point Saturday night or 54-53, the bottom line is winning the football game and getting the two points. The Riders won, they got the two points. It was as ugly as could be, but there are no style points given out.

Here are some of my thoughts as I walked out of Mosaic Saturday night

--The Darian Durant haters just won't accept the guy for whatever reason. Listening to the CKRM post-game show on the way home, callers were quick to throw blame on the Riders QB for the offensive performance. ???? I just don't get it. I don't know what the haters want. This guy stays in the pocket on the Rob Bagg touchdown knowing he is going to get clobbered yet he absorbs that hit to make the play. He runs a quarterback draw not once, but twice to get a first down late in the game to keep a drive alive and kill the clock. He didn't turn the ball over. He was sixty percent on completion percentage. Was every throw great? No. Does Darian deserve the criticism he still gets? NO! There's no use banging your head against the wall trying to figure it out. Some people just won't give credit where credit is due. Its the same with Brendan Taman. As Luc Mullinder so aptly put it on the 620 CKRM post-game show, you won't realize what you had until he is gone. If he wins another Grey Cup during his time here, he will arguably be the greatest Rider to ever have worn the uniform having taken this team to the promised land twice if not more. Perhaps these Durant haters would rather have the likes of Kevin Mason, Reggie Slack or Marvin Graves quarterbacking the team. It's frustrating, but its amusing as well. It also makes me laugh when people say its the media creating the criticism. Yeah. its the media phoning in to the post-game shows, yeah, its the media who write anonymously for the most part into the blogs, yeah, its the media's fault. People that throw that at me just make me chuckle.

--John Chick is John Chick. What more can you say about him that hasn't been said.

--Tom Higgins can rationalize it anyway he wants, but he screwed up by not going for two after the Duron Carter touchdown late in the 4th. Higgins said there was enough time to get the ball back. He's right, but going for two at least means you get the ball back and you are tied instead of behind. If there was lots of time left, why gamble on 3rd and 4 from midfield with 1:45 left when they could have punted and maybe won some field position. Higgins arguably blew it for the Alouettes on this night.

--Al Bradbury and his crew did nothing to heighten the image of CFL officials. The offside call on John Chick in the first half was perhaps the worst call I have seen this year. If that isn't, then his explanation on the no pass interference on Chris Getzlaf because the two were running side-by-side is. ???????? I asked people on Twitter what they would grade old Al's crew for their performance Saturday night. I gave them a C Minus and many who answered said I was being generous.

--It was a very classy move by many Rider fans to give Taj Smith a nice ovation when he caught his first pass. I'm sure that meant a lot to #88 who you know is going through some battles. The Riders are giving this kid every opportunity to stick around, but they've told him the time to grow up is now. Rider fans let Taj know they are on his side and it was encouraging to see.

--Why doesn't the kisscam ever venture up to the pressbox and focus in on Carm and Rod? Tell me the place wouldn't go ballistic as Carm planted one on RP or vice-versa!

--I like Chris Milo, but I think he needs to be pushed a little. Bringing a body in wouldn't be the worst thing for the Riders kicker. Competition is always good.

Other thoughts

--The CFL has to start becoming concerned over the bad football games we are seeing. I was told by some that if I thought the game at Mosaic was bad it was nothing compared to the Edmonton-Ottawa game. These games are starting to become commonplace and its not fan-friendly. I'm not sure how you fix it, but somewhere somehow the CFL must find a way to create some excitement and perhaps it will come, but right now the product isn't appealing to the fan and that is not a good sign.

--I hate to say it, but it looks like Weston Dressler's dream of playing in the NFL is over. I was excited to see Weston get a chance even if it was a small one to do his thing with a national audience on FOX watching but sadly all we saw of Dressler was him sitting on the bench before the game started. He stayed on the bench too as far as I could see as he didn't catch any passes or return any kicks. My guess is Weston will be back in the CFL by Labour Day and he will be wearing green despite talk of him landing in Ottawa or Toronto. Brendan Taman will not let #7 get away.

--John Cena will be awfully sore this morning after the "pummelling" he took at the hands of Brock Lesnar. A man should not get thrown on his head and neck 16 times the way Cena did. Yes its scripted, but you still have to sell it to make it look good.

--Did Triple H reach into the wardrobe of his ex-woman Chyna when giving an outfit for current wife Stephanie McMahon to wear. The boss' daughter looked like she was wearing garb from the 90's diva in the ring for her match against Brie Bella which surprised very few methinks.

--The Blue Jays are done. At this rate, I can't help but wonder if they will be a 500 team the way they are plummeting in the standings. I still say opportunity blown at the deadline. Some disagree and that's fine. All I know is while others strengthened their team, the Jays did not for whatever reason.

--Where was all the rain we were supposed to get this weekend? Saturday was calling for 10-20 millimeters in Regina. Where was it? Environment Canada---10 percent accurate 90 percent of the time.

--Sounds like the event of the year was held at the Turvey Centre Friday night with the Frank McCrystal roast. I've heard many a story from many a person. I shoulda went!

--Congrats to the Regina Thunder as they beat the Hilltops 19-16 in overtime. Its never a bad thing when you beat the Hilltops is it Regina.

--Congrats also to the Regina kids representing Canada at the Little League Junior and Senior World Series. The junior team barely lost out on qualifying for a semi-final. It was said they were the best Canadian reps perhaps ever sent to Taylor Michigan at the Juniors. That's a good thing.

--Have a great week!




28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Want to see what the future would look like without a winner like Durant? Just look east to Montreal or Hamilton, or Ottawa in a couple of years.

Mike from Vita MB said...

Riders win- who cares how? Sad 4 Weston- hope someone gives him a chance- he deserves it!

Anonymous said...

Heavy Rain hit Whitmore Park for about an hour or two on Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Bagg is right, Higgins screwed up and those who hate Durant simply don't have a clue.


Aaron

Anonymous said...

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see Cena get beat up like that. I didn't think Vince would give Lesnar the strap but he has. Who is going to take it from him?


Robert said...

While watching the game, the better half saw the new uniforms on TV and wondered where the old ones were. After explaining that these were the new 3rd jersey, she asked why are there lizard scales on the uniforms and helmet. After advising her that those were wheat sheaves, she said OK but they still look like lizard scales.

Anonymous said...

U said Cena would beat Lesnar. You are wrong!

Right on Rob Bagg! Its boring football, but its winning football.


LD

Anonymous said...

I didn't agree with you on the Jays at first, but I'm coming around. The way they're playing and the opposition they have make me think they'll finish 4th in the division. A good starting pitcher could have prevented this mess, but then again it might not have.

Anonymous said...

Scruffy, you don't live in Harbour Landing if you don't think there was any rain on Saturday. It came down hard here for about 45 mins on Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Luca ! Luca ! Luca ! Give Luca his job back.

Anonymous said...

While it was out of courtesy to Weston Dressler to release him outright to take his shot at the NFL level, he now becomes a "unrestricted free agent" available to any team able to entice his playing services. That move just "MIGHT" come back to haunt the Roughrider GM. Winnipeg Blue Bombers would be a great destination should Weston come back to the CFL, fitting in right away with Drew Willy's precision throws, what a awesome shock and awe show that would be!

Anonymous said...

no it didnt

Clarkenstein said...

Higgins blew it. He's absolutely not a leader. Anybody in Edmonton could have told the Als that. He's a stubborn SOB that interferes with everything his assistants want to do. Check it out.

Anonymous said...

So please explain why the officiating crew is not called up on the carpet over the Chick offside penalty. Are the Zebras never held accountable?

Anonymous said...

When people bitch about Darian around me I tell them, "He doesn't call them plays." So what's with this stand in the pocket under pressure? Why is there no rollout plays with the guards pulling to protect? That's when Doubles is most effective but for some unknown reason we never call them and that's not Darian's fault. I thought a coach was supposed to guide his players to the best chance to succeed.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Doubles supposed to be a leader? Where's is his input on the sideslines along with the coaches as to what is working and what is not working on the field of play? Maybe he's too old and fading to teach new schemes, you would think he would know by now at his age along with the number of CFL years under his belt how to get it done with his old soup bone arm.

Anonymous said...

I think sports is always a "what have you done for me lately" business. Durant has struggled as has the entire offence.
I really do not think there are many "Durant haters" out there other than a few people that are motivated to call in and complain. I know you are doing your job, but I do hope that you can find something else to report on.

Anonymous said...

The McCrystal roast was solid gold.

How many german suplexes did Cena take?

Milo needs competition

The Durant haters are morons.

Rob

Anonymous said...

Robb Bagg should be worrying about bagging a few more catches tossed his way instead of b/Mitching in the media.

Anonymous said...

You know what Robb Bagg, I would rather see the Riders throw 500 yards plus and lose, that would be one highly entertaining game by both clubs on the field. But that's never going to happen with Darian Durant as the starting quarterback.

Danby Granger
Rapid City
South Dakota, USA

Anonymous said...

Ray Charles could see that this offence is broke. Yes I would rather see 500 yards and a loss than what we've been seeing.

Stevie Wonder

Anonymous said...

The Labour Day Classic still isn't even sold out. It would be if the last game had 500 yards and a loss.

Anonymous said...

When media asks the players questions about the offensive output right after the game they are going to be defensive. They just busted their ass for 60 minutes, got the win one way or another, and then you get some guy asking if they could have done better.

Funny thing is no one is there to question you scruffy after the sportscage shows you hosted or the after game call in show as to whether you really did a good job hosting and if you could have done better. Scruffy you’d give a defensive answer if someone questioned you 5 minutes after the shows too.

Anonymous said...

Two and outs don't sell tickets

Anonymous said...

Defensive yourself anonymous,

If you had read the article properly, you would see, "would you rather us throw for 500 yards and lose" That's the question "Robb Bagg posed to everyone" grumbling about the offence. What does Mr.Blair or a radio show have to do with the pathetic on field performance of this 2014 team Rider edition, nothing funny about these so called paid professionals not doing their job and then getting all defensive about it, win or lose.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm? The CFL and it's asociated teams/personnel/referees should make the Wonderlic IQ test mandatory. Bunch of bozos would probably score between 0-3.

Anonymous said...

That's the question "Robb Bagg posed to everyone" grumbling about the offence.

I read the article correctly, I don’t think you understood my comments correctly.

What question was Rob Bagg asked to cause him to pose that question? It’s because media asked him a question that made him give such a defensive response (or respond with such a question)

comparison to Scruffy is that he’d probably get defensive too if someone tells him 5 minutes after he airs that he could have done a, b and c better in the show.

Anonymous said...

Mr.Blair a professional journalist, why should he get defensive, he's not Rod Pedersen amongst other's who act childish holding grudge. Anyone and everyone should learn from others critiques and only aspire get better at what they do whatever that may be.