Something To Mitch About

The Rider Nation is up in arms and the season hasn’t officially started yet. Yes, there was not a lot of positives in Thursday’s pre-season blowout at the hands of the B.C Lions, but who cares. The game is used to evaluate players and that is what coach Corey Chamblin and his assistants will be doing over the next few days. Here’s what I took away from the contest

--Chamblin has lots of film to evaluate his defensive players, but there is still some evaluation to be done on offensive players and he may not have the time. That is what happens when there are only two exhibition games.

--A couple of veteran players on defence could be getting walking papers as they were not very good.

--Odell Willis should be back at #1 on the depth chart very soon as Kenny Rowe was very disappointing. I’m expecting Rowe to take a step up. He didn’t on Thursday.

--Kory Sheets can stay and so can Justin Harper. On defence, Sam Hurl has two years to go at the University of Calgary, but he showed me that he is CFL ready. Regina Thunder d-lineman Zack Evans also has a future in this game.

--I thought Rod nailed it on the head during Thursday’s Sportscage when he defended quarterback Darian Durant from those who are being openly critical after just one game because of his demeanour. A couple of fans were not happy with the fact Durant seemed to be yukking it up on the sidelines in the second half. Are these the same fans that criticized Durant for pouting when he had a towel over his head last year? What exactly do you want from the quarterback? If it is to throw for 400 yards and six touchdowns every game, you are sadly delusional as that will not happen. Like it or not, Durant is the leader of the football club and the players are the ones who will tell you that. If you can’t handle that, perhaps hand in your fan club membership

--The actions of Mike Benavides will have resonated throughout the CFL. Running a fake punt in the first quarter and running up the score won’t only get under the Riders skin, but other teams will have noticed that as well. It would seem as if winning a championship has made the Lions a little cocky and they need to be knocked down a peg or two. It will happen.

--There was some talk on Twitter Wednesday night about the jerseys and how they looked. WHO CARES?? I don’t care what the unis look like, I care about how the players that are playing in those unis are looking like. They could have come out in clown outfits for all I care as long as they were playing hard. That being said, the tramp stamp can go as it doesn’t really need to be there.

Just some other random thoughts….

--Colt Brennan may have a more impressive resume than Marc Mueller, but the U of R Rams quarterback has seen more time in a CFL game than the University of Hawaii standout.

--Its beating a dead horse, but Mueller deserves another opportunity with a CFL team. Sadly he won’t because he is Canadian. As I’ve said before, if Mueller was to ply his trade at some place like Montana or North Dakota or somewhere, would he have had a better opportunity to play professional football. Sadly, I think the answer is yes.

--I can’t imagine what my score would be if I was to play a round at the Olympic Club in San Francisco where they are contesting the U-S Open. That course just looks nasty!

--I no longer believe the Jays can be a playoff team this year unless they make a couple of deals. The pitching once again simply isn’t there and the loss of Brandon Morrow and perhaps Kyle Drabek doesn’t improve their chances any.

--The words Chris Bosh NBA champ just doesn’t resonate with me.

--KTLA in Los Angeles covered the Kings parade on Thursday. The announcers made it look like they had been right in the Kings corner from day 1. I’m guessing LA’s public relations team gave these people a huge stack of documents to pore over so they wouldn’t sound stupid.

--I wonder if Jeff Carter and Mike Richards took a picture of themselves with the Stanley Cup and sent it to Paul Holmgren.

--Will the Cup make its way to the Playboy Mansion?

--Matt Cain proved that he is one of the top pitchers in baseball with his performance against the Astros. I foolishly traded Cain for Tampa’s Jeremy Hellickson in a fantasy league during the off-season. I should have traded Tim Lincecum instead.

--Euro 2012 is not disappointing me at all

--The SJHL is getting rid of the showcase. I will reserve comment on that decision which I understand was not unanimous.

--Congrats to one of the most intense guys I know who has entered the world of fatherhood. Mitch Gallant at Capital Ford and his wife have welcomed a baby girl into the world. Good job Mitch! Is it true that those reading this will get an extra 200 taken off the price of a new or used car if mentioning the blog?

--The University of North Dakota has now dropped the “Fighting Sioux” nickname. This comes after the NCAA released a list of schools with nicknames they considered offensive. It amazes me that the Fighting Sioux name has to go, yet the Florida State Seminoles are staying as are pro teams like the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians. Hypocrisy is alive boys and girls, hypocrisy is alive.

--Why is the NBA championship series called “The Finals”? Its one game so why pluralize it. Was it the Eastern and Western Conference Championships?