Something To "Mitch" About

Its draft day in the CFL and I don't think there is any doubt that barring a last-second trade that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will make Peace River, Alberta's Linden Gaydosh the number one pick overall. The defensive lineman has everything you want to succeed. Its also going to be a real shot in the arm for football in the place where I once called home. Having a guy like that help build up football in northern Alberta can be nothing but a plus.

The question now is what do the Saskatchewan Roughriders do with the number 4 pick. There is some talk that they trade the pick and move down. I say that won't happen. Brendan Taman will do one of two things

 1) Take McMaster DL Ben D'Aguilar in the hopes that he has found himself a player that can emerge in  his 2nd or 3rd year as a pro.

 2) Take homegrown product Brett Jones from the U of R Rams and continue working on an offensive line that is young with the likes of U of S products Ben Heenan and Patrick Neufeld. In the end, I think Taman and the Rider organization do the latter. Jones is a guy that shot up the charts and is a guy that might be able to step in in a couple of years time.

If they do trade the pick, they may still be able to get Jones, but I don't know if that is a gamble they are willing to take. We will find out around 10 o'clock.

While Jones will hear his name in the first round, when will Stefan Charles go, If it wasn't for his signing with the NFL's Tennessee Titans after the NFL draft, it wouldn't have surprised me to see Hamilton take him at number one. The Riders have said they want a guy that can help immediately so I can't see them taking a flyer on Charles.  I somehow think that if Edmonton can't trade into the first round as they want to, they end up taking the U of R defensive lineman.

Barring a miraculous comeback, the Vancouver Canucks are once again going to let a solid season go by the wayside. They are down 3-zip to the Sharks and they are once again proving that they aren't built for the playoffs. It won't surprise me one bit if Alain Vigneault ends up falling on the sword.  As disappointing as it is for this Oilers fan to see them miss the playoffs when they have the talent, it can't compare to the pain Canucks fans have knowing their team is so close, yet so far away. I don't even know what the missing piece is.

Hockey is quickly becoming a sport where the physicality as Leafs coach Randy Carlyle calls it is going way. The Eric Gryba suspension was a bad one, but that doesn't compare to the suspension Detroit's Justin Abdelkader is getting. If you can't  make a hit like that in hockey, you might as well forget about it. Brendan Shanahan needs to go back and look at the game the way it was played when he was skating for the Red Wings and Devils. That was the game people enjoyed. The hits were hard, but the hits were clean for the most part and if they were clean, they weren't suspendable.  Gryba and Abdelkader are paying the price for all these people that want hitting taken out of hockey.

How much longer can John Gibbons last as manager of the Blue Jays? Who do they bring in if he goes. Please not Cito Gaston! Nothing against Cito, but he can't be constantly seen as the team's life preserver. I didn't think Toronto was the team everyone thought they might be, but I didn't think they would be a team that five weeks into the season is tied for the 3rd worst record in baseball.

The provincial government should invest in "D Licenceplates" like they do "F Ones." The D could spell for "Douchebag Drivers' because it seems as if that is what we are seeing as the cold weather is replaced by warmer weather. One only had to be on a Regina street Saturday afternoon to see what I mean, It really is sad!

I'm guessing the BC and Alberta Junior Hockey Leagues are smiling like Cheshire cats tonite. Both league champions and not just one will go to the Royal Bank Cup. This is what those two leagues wanted when they developed the idea of the Western Canada Cup. The Yorkton Terriers tried to throw a monkeywrench into the plans, but they couldn't do it. I said last year when Humboldt and Weyburn were in the RBC at Humboldt that it might be a long time before the SJHL has a rep at the national championship and I stand by that. Time will tell, but we might not see a team out of the Jr A loop in this province competing for a national championship until the Western Canadian championship is played in Saskatchewan in three years and there are two reps competing. BC and Alberta accomplished what they wanted leaving the SJHL and MJHL in the dust.

Who's the idiot in Estevan that crashed the stage at the Motley Crue concert? I'm guessing the actions of that individual will throw cold water on Estevan getting more concerts like the Crue. Word will get around. I also hear the Crue concert in Moose Jaw was something to behold. I am guessing Sportscage regular and good friend Kelly Remple may never be the same after seeing another 80's heavy metal band in his hometown.



I'm hearing good things about Birmingham's in Regina, but I still haven't gotten there. I need to do that.

Rod Pedersen brought up a great question on the Cage this week. He asked "What's the best restaurant in Regina?". Is there an answer to that? I say no! It depends on what you want. If you want a pizza, I say you can't get anything better than Tumblers, but others disagree. It saddened me this week to hear that Tumblers is for sale. So many a night spent in that place during my younger days. It won't be the same without the involvement of the iconic Jimmy Baiton.  Getting back to the question though, there are great Chinese, steak, pasta and pizzerias in this town. I don't think you can say there is any one restaurant that holds its head over another in our fine city. If you can, go right ahead and make the argument.

Speaking of the Cage, I had someone tell me this week that even though I'm now fully employed by CKRM, it seems as if there is less and less of me on the Cage than there was when I wasn't getting a paycheque by the fine people at Harvard Broadcasting. The last time I looked, I was still on doing the Wednesday show with RP like I was before I started working full-time there. If anyone is going to make that change, it will be RP and not me. He has his stable of guests every day and I am the Wednesday guy. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Can't wait for the UFC in Winnipeg. I have great tickets and will be going with six of my fellow neanderthals on a trip where stories will be created. Can I wear my Rider jersey to the event? Why not I say. Yeah, I may be wearing opposition colours in Winnipeg, but I know I won't be the only one wearing the green and white in Manitoba.

TSN simply won't be the same without Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole. Many a Canadian stayed up late just to watch those two idiots do their thing. No offence to Nabil Karim and Bryan Mudryk, but they just don't have it compared to O'Toole and Onrait. Then again who does. Is this where I once again preach that TSN should look to good old Regina and pluck Lee Jones away. I have often said on this blog that its time for Lee to make the  move to Toronto because he is talented enough. We'll see.  Speaking of Dan and Jay, would Sportsnet or the Score try and get their FOX Sports One show on Canadian airwaves. It would be big if they could. While they are it, they can get whatever show Charissa Thompson is going to be on. My favourite female sports personality is leaving ESPN for the new network. This disappoints me tremendously--especially if I can't see her body of work on the new channel.

Mila Kunis was named hottest woman in the world by FHM Magazine this week. She doesn't even rank in Scruffy's book. Sorry Mila!

I found a website where I can watch "The Americans". I think this will please me greatly!

Kudos to Global's Tom Vernon for his feature on High Impact Wrestling on this week's "Focus Saskatchewan", It was very well done and he didn't show the lunacy that my group that attends the monthly performances takes part in.

If you could buy motivation at the store I would probably still be too lazy to go buy it.

That's all I got. Have a good week!