Something To "Mitch" About

Thanks to Nicole Tardif for sending me this on Twitter. Its so true!! Some of those that were ecstatic over what happened last week are  demanding instantaneous change this week. CMON people!!! Lets pull it back a little!!!

There's no use even trying to sugarcoat what happened at Rogers Centre on Saturday. It was almost a complete 180 from what we saw at Mosaic Stadium against Hamilton in Week 1. The Riders were just about as bad in Toronto as they were good against the Tiger-Cats.  They didn't seem to have any fire or any energy.  They looked uninspired, yet they were in a position to perhaps win the football game.

The Riders cut the deficit to 10 and had the ball on a 2nd and I'm not sure. Darian got sacked on a play by the Toronto defensive half where Anthony Allen had to choose what guy to block allowing the other one to come through untouched. That play forced the Riders to punt and squashed any momentum they had with Ricky Ray taking over from there. He moved the team down the field for a touchdown and it was lights out.

It had to be a very deflating experience for the green and white, but head coach Corey Chamblin is hoping that experience will be good for them down the road. He didn't suggest the team had some big heads going in, but when he said to Carm Carteri that last week the talk was about repeating (which he said with a laugh) there was perhaps more to that statement than you think even though it was said jokingly. Chamblin said he didn't like their week of practice but admitted you can have bad practices and win and have good practices and lose. Did he see a little of bit of over-confidence creeping into his team after the one-sided win over Hamilton?  If he did, I'm sure he will be letting the team know about it as they get ready for BC Saturday night at Mosaic.

 Just some thoughts about what I saw

  --John Chick has come out of the gate on fire this year. He was the Riders best defensive player by far and is looking like the player that was dominant before leaving for the NFL. That's nothing but good news as far as I'm concerned.

 --Too many missed tackles. Wayyy too many

 --The Durant to Brett Swain combination is working. Those two are establishing a nice little chemistry with one another

--Was I the only one who yelled NOOOOOOOOO as Darian released the pass that Antoine Molden took back 107 yards for a touchdown. I could see that one coming. Give a lot of credit to Ben Heenan for not giving up and chasing Molden down the field. Big men shouldn't be doing that.

--Anthony Allen can run the football, but he needs to hang onto it as well. Two fumbles in two weeks will not go over well. He sat down for a while yesterday and may have sat down for the rest of the game had it not been for a Neal Hughes injury.  Does Keith Toston or Hugh Charles get the starting assignment against the Lions?

--Its never been a secret that I'm a big fan of Neal Hughes so I love it when he contributes offensively.

If the Riders were the team that took the biggest fall after their Week 1 performance, then Montreal takes the biggest rise. They got their act together at home against BC. They aren't the Alouettes of old by any means, but they showed they can be competitive.

Kevin Glenn has had better starts. His stint with the Lions has been disastrous so far with six INTs in two games. I'm guessing Mike Benavides can't wait for Week 7 when Travis Lulay is eligible to come back onto the roster.

What a 4th quarter implosion by the Tiger-Cats. That was downright ugly seeing the way they handed that game to Edmonton and yet they still had a chance to win it. I hated the QB draw call at the end and think Kent Austin outsmarted himself, but whatever.

I'm not sold on the Bombers yet. It will take a while.

Other tidbits....

  --Moments after it ended Saturday morning someone put on Twitter that Genie Bouchard looked as if she needed a hug. No kidding! That was tough to watch as the 20 year old Canadian who has captured the country's attention got smoked in the womens final at Wimbledon. What a painful learning experience it was. She will be back though! Some are wondering if they should invest some corporate dollars into her and I say why wouldn't you? She is the future of womens tennis and she's easy to look at. Canadian businesses are doing it so get on the bandwagon.

 --I can't help but ask why it is that Stephen Harper hasn't come to our fair province to look at the damages from the mammoth rainfall last weekend. There's no doubt Brad Wall had to do so a-s-a-p which is what he did, but the PM should have been right behind him----especially when he was in Calgary flipping pancakes at the Stampede. It wouldn't have been that big of a trip for him.  The same could be said for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau who was also in Calgary. Trudeau isn't the PM though, Harper is and I think he really snubbed Saskatchewan by not showing up especially when he checked out the situation in Manitoba yesterday.

 --Jeff Samardzija goes to Oakland, Brandon McCarthy goes to the Yankees. The cards are starting to fall and Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos appears to just sit there and wait. This team needs to make a deal or two as the season is starting to crumble underneath them. In talking to Rogers Sportsnet Jays analyst Gregg Zaun, he says Toronto has to strike now and should offer some top prospects to Tampa for pitcher David Price. You don't get a legitimate shot at the pennant every year so do something Alex. If you don't, you might not have a job next year.

 --How concerned is the CFL about Toronto? The city just won't embrace this team. They are too "big" for the Argos now that they have the Raptors, Jays, Toronto FC and the Leafs. They are back page news and will always be back page news until something changes. I don't know if the best marketing minds out there could get the attitude of Torontonians to change. 18 thousand people on a glorious Saturday afternoon should raise a lot of alarm bells---especially when two or three thousand of those people were likely there to watch the Riders. I still think the CFL needs Toronto because corporate Canada is Toronto, but I don't know what to do. Either does anyone else.

 --Every day I hear a new name come up for the Regina Pats coaching job. I'm sure one of those names will be the new guy, but I am willing to let others comb out that information. Just make the hire and lets move on.

  --Did you see UFC 175? Uriah Hill's toe was certainly the talk for many as was the Ronda Rousey-Alexis Davis fight----if you want to call that one. I've seen better catfights at the bar than what I saw there.  Did you know Lyoto Machida is a guy who drinks his own urine saying it does his body good. Yeahhhhhhhh, no!

  --I guess its safe to say that the cologne or perfume of choice for many for a while will be OFF or Deep Woods Off. We knew it would happen, but man are the mosquitoes bad!

 --I could care less where Lebron James goes in free agency. The same for Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The three are good at what they do, but I'm not a fan of the trio.

--Have a great week everyone!