Something To "Mitch" About

A line from Lady Antebellum's "Hey Bartender" basically summed up my feelings as I entered "Casa de Blair" after watching the Riders lose Friday night because "what I really needed now was a double shot of Crown."

That loss hurt! There was no way the Riders should have lost that game after being down 24-0 and rallying to tie it.

As I watched the first half of that game, I knew the Riders were once again horrible on offence, but something inside me said they would get it together and win the game, I was so confident I made that statement on the half-time show on 620 CKRM with Phil Andrews. As Calgary made it 24-0, I tweeted if you were listening that I was also picking Jacksonville to win the Super Bowl, the Flames to win the Stanley Cup and the Astros to win next year's World Series.

Seeing the team come back from 24 down with Tino Sunseri should send many positives, but all I could think was that the defence that has been so good this year let the team down at crunch time, While I understand completely what Corey Chamblin said after the game as he put the blame on himself for not being aggressive at the end, I would have also kicked thinking that D could hold Drew Tate and the Stamps. WRONG!! We will never know how the Rider drive ends up if Chamblin decided to go for it, and you all know Chamblin would have been roasted had they failed to get the 3rd and 1 because he was in a damned if you do, damned if you don't spot. He went with his bread and butter and he got burned on it. Criticize him all you want, but I'm not calling him out on this one and as I said, I am admiring the fact he is standing up and taking the bullet on this one,

Other thoughts.

  --I don't know what to think about the quarterback situation anymore,  Seth Doege certainly didn't have it, but it was a learning experience for him and Tino Sunseri had the light come on again that came on in the 2nd half of the Ottawa game. I like what Tino is doing, but I'm still not sold. He takes wayyyyy too much time to get rid of the football and had he kept running for another yard or two at the end he wouldn't have put his head coach into a kick or gamble position. That decision comes with experience though so I'm not going to be too harsh on the 2nd year pivot.

--Glen Johnson has to call in Al Bradbury's crew and go WTF? Once again, orange littered the field all night long and three plays had to be reversed from the command centre. That isn't good! What crew has had the most calls reversed by the command center this year. It has to be Al's.

--If the Stampeders are going to win the Grey Cup (shudder the thought), they had better hope Bo Levi Mitchell is calling the shots because Drew Tate isn't winning them anything. In fact, if I had to go with any team right now because of their quarterback situation I would take Mike Reilly and the Eskimos who thankfully dropped one to Toronto keeping thoughts of 2nd place alive.

--I don't know if I have ever seen a hit in person as ferocious as the one Marshay Green delivered to Simon Charbonneau-Campeau. I can't believe Charbonneau-Campeau actually got up and went to the room.

--I know people are falling off the bandwagon by the game or asking if they can get back on when Darian Durant comes back. This team is getting over the hangover caused by the Durant injury and I think they can get it back together. The 2nd half was inspirational, but four quarters are needed and after losing to Edmonton and Calgary, they can't afford to do so again if they want a home playoff game.  Bring on the Alouettes!!

Moving on....sort of

Winnipeg Free Press writer Gary Lawless thinks Ben Heenan would look great in a Bombers uniform. His story on that is right here. With all due respect to Mr, Lawless, this won't be happening. Ben Heenan is simply too smart to leave his home province where he could end up being the next Gene Makowsky and Roger Aldag. Why would he want to leave a contender when he is a starter on one already and methinks Brendan Taman could have already inked him to a new deal that won't be announced until the time is right. Thanks for the article though Gary, it was entertaining reading.

From Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun...there are 129 players on a CFL injury list which averages out to about 14 per team. Is that a little high to you?

If you are squeamish, you do not want to watch video of the broken leg/ankle suffered by Alabama running back Kenyan Drake in their game against Ole Miss Saturday. It is not pleasant! What was pleasant was seeing the Tide and Nick Saban get beat. I can't stand Saban!  What a Saturday it was in US college football as well as many teams in the top ten went down as 2,3,4,6 and 8 went down creating what should be a tremendous shake-up in the rankings which is great when you now have a playoff system for the championship. Auburn and Florida State look good right now, but then who? There's a lot of good teams out there. Sadly, Michigan is not one of them! What a grease-fire they are!

Washington State Cougars quarterback Connor Halliday threw for 735 yards in a loss Saturday night to California. That's an NCAA record as you can imagine. 735 yards and they lost.....how did they lose you ask? Their kicker missed a 15 yarder on the last play. DOHHHHH!!! By the way, its my understanding Halliday is not on the neg list of any CFL team.

Tom Brady and the Patriots sent America a message on Sunday Night Football. They destroyed the Bengals and Brady showed he's a long ways from being done as some have suggested. It does sound though like Tom isn't real happy with the Patriots and perhaps his days in New England are growing short.

With Logan Thomas playing for Arizona yesterday, it means only one rookie quarterback has not played a snap under center this year.  That quarterback--------Johnny Manziel! Doesn't look like he will be anytime soon either after the Browns came back from a 28-3 deficit to beat Tennessee.

The Chicago Bears are once again a team disappointing many. One has to wonder at what point the heat starts to come down on Marc Trestman.

Is Austin Davis the answer at quarterback for the St. Louis Rams? If I were St. Louis, I'd either cut bait on the oft-injured Sam Bradford or look to see what type of value you can get for him in a trade. I can't see him being in St. Louis next year unless Davis takes a major step backwards.

The New York Jets are abysmal!

If you are a baseball fan, you have to love what we have seen in the playoffs. Its been one outstanding game after another. However, there are some baseball fans in this country who are upset and they should be. Saturday afternoon, I started getting tweets and seeing tweets on my timeline about the Cardinals-Dodgers game and what channel it was on. Late in the afternoon, Sportsnet put out a tweet saying the game was unavailable to them because it was exclusive on the MLB Network. ???? Why would baseball want to shut out its fans to a playoff game to put a contest on a channel that is not in many Canadian homes. Why would they not let Sportsnet have the broadcast? That is just some stupid thinking somewhere in the corporate offices.

Who in their right mind had the Baltimore Orioles taking on the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series. Both teams aren't exactly big spenders meaning once again money can't buy titles. It will also be nice having at least one different team in the World Series. As for the National League, one has to think San Fran will take out Washington while the Cardinals-Dodgers series is up in the air. I'm guessing the TV execs want the Dodgers in there big-time for ratings sake.

If the Blue Jays had been in the playoffs, where would the Argos-Eskimos game on Saturday have been played?

Is there a plan for the city to put up lights between the off ramp onto the Lewvan from the Ring Road and where the Grasslands Shopping Complex starts? If not, there should be one. You need some lights on that stretch of road.

The Islanders are showing their serious about being a playoff team this year, but the price they paid for Johnny Boychuk was a tad high if you ask me considering Boychuk is a UFA at the end of the season. Two seconds and a conditional third?

The Regina Pats split their games on the weekend beating Prince Albert and losing to Red Deer in overtime. Where are all the Regina hockey fans who wanted change at the top and were eager to see new blood take over? You got what you wanted, but the Brandt Centre still seemed rather tomb-like and empty for Saturday's game. Cmon Regina, time to buck up and get out there and start supporting your junior hockey team. You got what you wanted so live up to your end of the deal.  The on-ice product isn't bad either.

Just because, I end it with the Swedish Chef. How can you not love the Swedish Chef?!



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