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!