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Monday, August 13, 2018

Something To "Mitch" About



--If the Chris Jones hate in this province wasn't as hot as it was across Saskatchewan on Saturday, it is now.   All it took was one tweet from Duron Carter Saturday night followed by a release from the Riders saying DC was no longer a part of the organization to get Rider Nation going again.

There are many stories out there as to what precipitated this release-----one that I heard last week could be coming via trade. If I was hearing that, you know teams were hearing that and as it is in many cases, when a team in the CFL knows a player of substance like Carter is on the block, they wait for the release, don't give up any assets and then try to sign said player.   I have also heard stories about Carter in the room much like you have and that perhaps there was an incident like the one that happened on the field last year.  I don't know if those are true or not, and we may never find out if something did happen to get him out the door, but one has to think there was a reason as to why Carter is no longer a part of Riderville.

 I think we can all agree he beats to a different drum.  There's a reason he isn't in the NFL, there's a reason why he never stuck around with the Montreal Alouettes and there is a reason he is no longer a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.   At the end of the day, that is what it boils down to.  It sounds as if there was a personality conflict with offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo, but in situations like that, the players don't often win.  Yes, Carter should never been on the defensive side of the ball this year, but maybe now we are seeing why he was as perhaps McAdoo had had enough.

As for Jones, he was crucified Sunday morning for giving a press conference that lasted less than five minutes when it came to Carter's release.  Many saying it was a no-class move to bring people in when a statement could have been issued.  Yeah OK!  I am sure Riders media man Ryan Pollock was besieged by requests by local and national media for comments on the release.  Jones could have hidden from everyone until the team got back on the field this week, but he didn't.  He didn't throw Carter under the bus, he gave the football team's position, but to some it wasn't enough. It is so laughable as is the never-ending comments about the release of Bakari Grant, Rob Bagg and Chad Owens.  Bagg is hurt right now so we don't know if he would have latched on with another team, but we know Grant and Owens haven't.  Despite that, Rider fans still can't accept those two aren't catching passes for them anymore when the reality is they aren't catching passes for anyone because no one wants them. If they did, they would be employed.  You can't deny that!

What also can't be denied is as you look at the standings going into this week, the Riders are last in the West at 3-4. While there were encouraging signs in Edmonton with Zach Collaros back at quarterback, the record can't be ignored.   Were the expectations too high after being ninety seconds from an appearance in the Grey Cup?   It is time for this team to stop making excuses and start acting like the football team that the coaching staff thought they had at the start of the season.  Yes, that starts from the top on down.  The talent is there and that has been shown.  It is now time to deliver and that starts Sunday against the Stampeders.

--Someone in the CFL has to be put to the fire for what happened Saturday night in Ottawa with Johnny Manziel.  He was knocked silly at the goal-line and appeared to perhaps be momentarily knocked out, but a couple of neck rubs and he was back on the field.  ?????  Where was the concussion protocol?  Was it waived because of Manziel's marquee value?  Are we now ignoring player safety because of who he is.  For Manziel to continue in that game once again shows me that while the league talks about how serious they are in handling concussions, they are not.

--Its somewhat cool that the Rock is promoting the CFL and thanking Wally Buono for cutting him in an Instagram video that surfaced on the weekend.  Can the CFL get Dwayne Johnson to be part of a marketing campaign.  He is still watching the league so he knows what its all about..  I guess the bottom line would be the pricetag, but hopefully the Rock could give the league a break and start laying the smack down.  That would be great!

--How many people can you cram into Currie Field?  We may find out Tuesday night on what should be a great night for baseball as the forecast says it will be sunny and 27 during the day with it being clear and 13 at night.  What more do you want?  Game 3 of the WMBL final between the Red Sox and Medicine Hat Mavericks could and should be a great night.  Get out there and cheer on the Red Sox!  Same goes for Wednesday if there is a Game 4.  Who's kidding who, that could be the night the trophy gets handed out and wouldn't it be something if that trophy was handed to the home team.

--I've said it once and I'll say it again.  Tiger Woods has lost his intimidation on the PGA Tour and that is why he will have to simply beat competitors physically and not mentally.  With the performance and swagger Woods had on Sunday, he would have won the PGA Championship by three with guys like Koepka, Thomas and others shooting 72's, 73's or 74's.  They just stared Tiger in the face and said beat us with your game.  He tried, but he couldn't.  He did give it a great run though as he was firing bullets at the pin.

--One can only imagine the outrage in this country had Canada gotten shafted the way the US did at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup.   Canadian hockey fans need to remember that when it happens to our team which it will at some point.  Yes, I am one of those. We all love the shootout if Canada wins, but we hate it if Canada loses.   The same goes to what happened in the semi-final when the US should have advanced only to have the refs say a goal went in when it was clear time had expired.  It makes the victory somewhat hollow, but a win is a win right?

--Many were wondering where the WHL was when not many first round picks came out of the Dub at the recent draft.  11 players on the Canadian team that won the HG Cup were WHL players and many of those players will likely represent Canada at the World Juniors and be first round picks.  Go to the rink this winter and you will learn a lot more about players like Dylan Cozens (Lethbridge), Kirby Dach and Nolan Maier (Saskatoon), Peyton Krebs (Kootenay) and Josh Williams (Medicine Hat).

--That's all I got.  Have a great week!




21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tiger's run was great, but you're right when it comes to the mental part of the game. The young guns of today match him shot for shot. They couldn't do that 10 years ago.

Anonymous said...


18-31 since Jones took over. A majority of those 18 wins against weaker teams from the East. Numerous moves which has left everyone scratching their head with this one being the latest. It isn't getting better, it is getting worse. They wouldn't have been within 90 seconds of a Grey Cup playing in the Western playoffs.

That also can't be denied!



Anonymous said...

It's one thing for the Riders to be 18-31 since Jones took over. It's another to simply be boring football. Even when the Riders do win, it's always boring defensive games. The gameday experience has not been very good overall.

Anonymous said...

I think we are headed towards last place in the west, unfortunately. Bombers are a real power house. Stamps and Esks have the best QB's. BC has its mojo back with Lulay. 2019 could see a new Rider management with Paul Lapolice as head coach and Brendan Taman back at GM.

Anonymous said...

Time for Reynolds to send Jones a text saying thank you for your service, but we are going in a different direction. In fact, someone can send Reynolds that text too.

Anonymous said...

TAMAN??? Is that the best you can come up with?

All you Jones-haters want him gone, but you can't name a suitable replacement. If you think Taman is a suitable replacement, you are beyond fixing.


Kyle

Anonymous said...


Good riddance to Carter. Guy was all about himself. If you want to be successful, you need team guys and not me guys.

Anonymous said...

1500-2000 would be a huge crowd for the Red Sox and a thank you from the baseball community for all the hard work Bernie Eiswirth and Gary Brotzel put in.

JD

Anonymous said...


Duron Carter----the CFL's version of PK Subban. Neither have them have won anything, neither of them will win anything and both are a pain in the ass to their own dressing rooms.

Good riddance!

Anonymous said...

Jones' so called three-year-plan is two and a half years behind schedule and so far over budget that the league (starting next year) has installed a cap for staff.

Home playoff game? Yeh, right.

Anonymous said...


Not a Carter fan, but it seems in reading between the lines as if a conflict had developed between himself and MacAdoo. It seems as if MacAdoo was more content having Carter on defence so he didn't have to be bothered with him.

If that is the case, it seems like Jones is making a decision between his OC and a game-changing player who has the maturity of a small child. Is that the hill he wants to die on? Apparently, the answer is yes.

As far as the 3-4 record goes, I think this team would be 5-2 if Collaros was healthy all year long. That changes nothing, but this team is better than the record indicates.

Rob

Anonymous said...

Only in Saskatchewan would someone suggest Brendan Taman back as gm with the Roughriders, totally absurd! There's a reason for his unemployment in football circles. He set the Riders back a decade with his incompetence. Nobody wants Brendan Taman anywhere, if they did, he would be employed.

Anonymous said...

Chris Jones would have been the most popular man in Saskatchewan if he'd came here as a DC.
He might even be well liked if he was the Head Coach.
But as a GM/VP he's in way over his head and the people know it and have known it since Day 1.
Craig Reynolds had better end this charade soon or his job will be on the line too.

Anonymous said...


Everyone knew what Carter was all about last year including Jones. Jones brought him back knowing he wasn't popular in the dressing room. It all starts and ends with Jones.

With him being gone, it takes away a major distraction. Perhaps now this team can go 7-4 or 8-3 in the final 11 and make a run.


perry

Anonymous said...


Brendan Taman? He is the one who got us into this mess! No Thanks!

Anonymous said...


Heard Mullinder's take on the Cage on Carter release while heading home. How refreshing to hear the truth and not the garbage being spewed by others on this topic whether they be pro or anti-Jones. I guess guys who have a connection to the team can be honest with how they truly feel.

Anonymous said...

FWIW: Buono used his Twitter account to invite Rock to his final home game.

Anonymous said...


1) Carter can't make the NFL as the son of a Hall of Famer
2) Carter goes to Montreal and his act wears thin because of incidents like Rick Campbell and Rakeem Kato
3) Carter comes to Saskatchewan and midway through his first season gets into a fight
4) Carter supposedly got into another fight with a teammate or a coach.

Jones tried, but this guy just doesn't want to do what needs and has to be done to be a good teammate and a positive in the locker-room.

Scruff, I have had current Riders tell me he is a handle for the coaching staff and is a first class whiner. I guess he went ballistic at half time of the Calgary game.

For this, Jones gets blamed. People don't know the real story because he smiles in front of the camera, gets creative on Twitter and takes fans to movies.


Anonymous said...

Serious reflections conveyed,

Bring back Mr Roy Shivers please! The guy is a football guru. He knows footbsll from A to Z.

lee said...

JONES has a number of Grey Cup rings , but none as a general manager. Others found the players he just coached them, so far he has found squat as a gm

Anonymous said...

After review... McAdoo has got to go! Flagarent violation of impersonating a offense football coach.

Andre