REDBLACKS New Uniforms

What do ya think?

Riders Season Preview Conference Call

The Riders were the first CFL team to hold a season preview conference call. I would suggest just playing this in the background and do what you were doing as its about a half hour long. Enjoy!!

Riders Add Three To Roster

The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced today that import running back Curtis McNeal, import receiver Isaiah Sweeney and import offensive lineman Levy Adcock have signed with the team. As per club policy financial details of the contract were not released.

McNeal (5’7 – 190) joins the Riders after spending four seasons at the University of Southern California. The Los Angeles native played 34 career collegiate games rushing for 1,739 yards and eight touchdowns on 267 carries while also adding ten receptions for 130 yards and one touchdown.

Last season, the 24-year-old McNeal attended training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers after signing with the team in April, 2013.

Sweeney (5’10 – 180) signs with the Green and White after spending part of the last season with the Edmonton Eskimos. The Texas native played three regular season games as a rookie registering seven catches for 54 yards.

Prior to that, the Texas native played four seasons at the University of Houston. The 23-year-old played 27 career collegiate games registering 11 receptions for 216 yards and four touchdowns while adding five kickoff returns for 121 yards.

Adcock (6’6 – 320) joins the Riders after playing three seasons at Oklahoma State. The 25-year-old played 16 career collegiate games and was named a First Team All-Big 12 offensive lineman in 2010 and 2011.

After college the Oklahoma native signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent where he attended 2012 training camp where he played two preseason games. He also spent time with the New York Giants after signing with the team in January, 2013.

TSN Is Growing

 

 

 

TSN, Canada's Sports Leader and the No. 1 specialty network in the country, is introducing a platform for growth that will see it expand from two to five national feeds. Optimized to give Canadians more sports and more choice than ever before, TSN's suite of channels will deliver a slate of expanded programming, including the ability to schedule SportsCentre, Canada's No. 1 sports news show, to serve multiple time zones.

Already home to Canada's most diverse lineup of sports programming and biggest championships – among them the World Juniors, Grey Cup, FIFA World Cup 2015-2022, Grand Slam tennis, all of golf's majors and much more – TSN is expanding to further solidify its position as Canada's Sports Leader by maximizing its deep lineup of world-class content delivered across multiple feeds.

To be branded TSN1, TSN2, TSN3, TSN4, and TSN5, all five TSN feeds will be available this fall. All TSN feeds will also be available to subscribers both online and through mobile devices via TSN GO. Further details, including information about participating TV service providers and channel placements, will be announced in the lead up to the launch.

"With five national channels as our new canvas, we now have the flexibility to fully leverage our immense portfolio of premium sports programming – we've had the content, but not the capacity, and now we do," said Stewart Johnston, President of TSN. "With this expansion, we are increasing our lineup of live events and in-house productions, while acquiring even more new content. This evolution of TSN is a win-win for both our viewers and our key partners."

More Sports and More Choice

Key programming highlights that viewers can expect to see across TSN's suite of five channels include the following:

- More live game coverage – spanning leagues including NBA, MLS, NCAA and more

- More choice of games and events taking place at the same time – including multiple curling sheets from Season of Champions events, multiple matches from Barclays Premier League, every game from NCAA March Madness, multiple court feeds from Gland Slam tennis events, and more

- Expanded coverage of marquee live events – including the World Juniors, Grey Cup, and FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015

- Effective scheduling of TSN news and studio shows – including broadcasting SportsCentre, Canada's most-watched sports news show, to serve multiple time zones

- NHL hockey – including 26 Toronto Maple Leafs games, 52 Ottawa Senators games, as well as pre-season games (available on a regional basis), plus local hockey programming generated by production expansion at TSN Radio stations in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg and Edmonton

- ESPN programming – featuring more of ESPN's vast package of college sports, plus ESPN news and studio shows

- New acquisitions and partnerships – more marquee sports properties to be added to TSN's industry-leading lineup

TSN's new suite of five channels complements Canada's most influential sports brand, joining:

- Five TSN Radio stations across the country – TSN 1050 Toronto, TSN 690 Montreal, TSN 1290 Winnipeg, TSN 1200 Ottawa, TSN 1260 Edmonton – along with TEAM 1040 Vancouver

- TSN Digital's industry-leading suite of assets – TSN.ca, TSN GO, TSN BarDown at BarDown.com, the TSN Hockey App, TSN GameTracker, its official social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Google+, and more

Something to "Mitch" About

Another week has flown by and is it just me or is 2014 moving along. We are just about at the halfway point of the year and its been a busy one. At least it seems that way to me, I don't know about you.

Those of us that love our hockey in these parts are bemoaning the fact again this year the WHL playoffs were mainly void of Saskatchewan with the Pats and Broncos being eliminated in the first round with Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Saskatoon not getting in at all.  Perhaps we should put those complaints aside because what has already been a great year on the national stage for Sask Hockey is getting better. You had a solid Saskatchewan flavour on the Canadian team that won gold in Sochi, the Weyburn Gold Wings won the Esso Cup and the Prince Albert Mintos won the Telus Cup meaning our province rules in both mens and womens midget hockey. The Yorkton Terriers can now try and make it a triple crown. Trent Cassan and Don Chesney led their Terriers to a Western Canada Cup victory in Dauphin and they will now try to win the Junior A title in Vernon.  Cassan has to be high on the radar of some teams already when it comes to a WHL job and if he can take Yorkton to a national title, I would think he can write his own ticket as to where he wants to go.

Be listening to 620 CKRM at 3 o'clock today. Nooooo, Sportscage isn't starting early, but it might as well be. The new owners of the Regina Pats will officially introduce themselves at a press conference to be held at the Brandt Centre. 620 will have that event for you live. It would be great to be down there to meet Mr. Marquart and company in person, but I'm sure he will be no stranger to the 620 CKRM headquarters.


With the Donald Stirling situation still blazing in our minds, the Boston Bruins fan base is doing nothing to cool off the story. I'm not the biggest PK Subban fan in the world. In fact, I feel the guy is over-rated which is something that angers many Habs fans I know and who write into this blog. However, the racial taunts distributed on social media are just atrocious and once again shows the problem of racism isn't going away as much as we would like to think it is. Bruins president Cam Neely had a statement denouncing the behavior of the fan base, but what is sad is this is the 2nd time this has happened as Washington's Joel Ward had the same thing happen to him when his goal knocked the Bruins out of the playoffs a few years ago. Doing it once is bad enough, but twice? Is it time for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to step in, but if he does, what can he do? It is a fan base doing this and obviously the views of an ignorant fraction do not represent the entire group which is the case in any sport. However, this can't be tolerated and some kind of action should be taken. I don't know how you can penalize fans without penalizing a team that is innocent here though. Its a very delicate issue. I just wonder how Jarome Iginla felt after hearing about this and how about Subban's brother whose rights are owned by you guessed it-----the Boston Bruins.

Is it just me or does Patrick Kane take his game to another level when the competition means so much. He has been the top player of the playoffs for me so far.

There were many people who got mad again because the start of the Chicago-Minnesota game wasn't on TSN. Did everyone forget it was on NBC?

NHL fans were loving the fact that they had three Game 7's to finish off the first round of the playoffs. How about NBA fans? They had 5 over the weekend to digest and it capped off what might have been the best first round ever in the Association.  I watch enough NBA to keep informed on the matter, but I have sat down to watch games in these playoffs and they have been off the charts. I think if I were to cheer for an NBA team these days, I would go for Portland. They are fun to watch with some great players led by Damian Lillard who absolutely knifed the playoff dreams of the Houston Rockets with a buzzer-beater to eliminate them and send the Portland crowd into a frenzied state Friday night in what was an instant classic.

Here's another idea as my promotional mind begins spinning again. As I see the sight of Raptor fans outside Air Canada Centre watching their team which is something done in many places, I wonder if the Riders could capitalize on this. The city of Regina is always asking and finding ideas for people to come downtown.  They have a very successful movie promotion which I've been to a couple of times and its been well attended. Is it possible to put up a big screen in Victoria Park and watch the Rider game? You get the food trucks out there, you get a beer garden going, you get some entertainment and it would be great for road and home games wouldn't it? I would think the Regina chapter of the Rider Nation would head to the park to watch it with others in July, August and September. Would you go? They could do the same thing in Saskatoon and other places across this fine province too.

The Raptors deserved to win Game 7,but it seemed to me like the guys in the striped shirts had other ideas. There were some very questionable calls that went against Toronto in the final game, but in the end Paul Pierce killed him with his offense in Game 1 and he killed them with his defense in Game 7.

Is TSN and the CFL doing its top 50 players again? I hope so and when they do, I want to see where Darian Durant is. He has been number 21 the last two years and one would think he would crack the top 10 this year, but where would you put him. I don't think you can call him the number one player in the league, but he is certainly top 10 if not top 5.  Going a little further, Rod and I were talking about Geroy Simon's place in league history. He is certainly one of the top receivers if not the top one when you look at the record books and he is still going. Is he the best ever?  This league has seen great receivers go through it with names like Pitts, Stegall, Elgaard, Cahoon, Fernandez, Kelly, Coffey and Patterson just to name a few. That will be a great debate when Geroy hangs up the cleats for good.

The Toronto Blue Jays slogan should be "We're unbeatable until we go to the bullpen". What an atrocity that group is. How many games has that bullpen blown in the first month and a bit of the season.  I've never been a John Gibbons fan and I think he has to take a lot of the blame here, but so does pitching coach Pete Walker. Weren't Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar all-stars last year?  What has happened to them?  Sergio Santos started off well, but he can't get anyone out. The same goes for many guys right now. Casey Janssen isn't exactly considered a top-notch closer either. Oh for the days of Tom Henke!  Then again, Toronto still has a better record than the Cubs these days and it will likely be that way for a while longer.

I didn't see it, but reports have come in saying WWE Extreme Rules was better than WrestleMania and that the end of the Cena-Wyatt cage match and the entire Bryan-Kane match were spectacular. Were they?

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

This And That

--The weekly collection of thoughts going through my muddled mind in no particular order


--What a great first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs! It seems they always are and that the level of play descends a little bit from there, but with Boston-Montreal, Pittsburgh-Rangers and LA-Anaheim meeting in Round 2, will it this year?

--It looked dicey, but my prediction of a Kings-Boston final lives on!

--The San Jose Sharks are considering changing their name to the "Sharts" after this year's playoff performance because they came up with one big "shart".  I have to think the dynamite is about to be placed under that team and its time to start over. I will be shocked if Todd McLellan is behind the bench next year and I will be just as shocked if Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle are there. The Sharks still have young talent in Pavelski, Couture, Vlasic, Irwin and Wingels so you don't have to start from square one, but you do need to give that team a serious overhaul.

--Playoff disappointment will be a valuable learning experience for a Colorado team that I think may be the best team in the West next year. What's not to like about them?

--Wouldn't it have been ironic if considering the state of Colorado's marijuana laws, Clayton Stoner would have gotten the series winner for the Wild instead of Nino Niederriter.

--The World Hockey Championship roster has been out for a while and while David Perron and Ben Scrivens will be on Team Canada from the Oilers, I don't see the name of Jordan Eberle. Was he invited and said no? Was he invited? Was he hurt? Did I miss something?

 --Kudos to the Riders for doing a DVD on the championship season. The 70 minute long piece will be selling for 14.99 at Co-ops across the province and the various "Rider Store" outlets.  Its good to see them pick up the ball that the CFL fumbled by not doing such a thing. I can't wait to see it.

--Some people ask me if my appearances on "Sportscage" are scripted because Rod and I end up having great discussions. The answer is NO! Its called chemistry and the two of us have it more times than not. I just sit down and away we go. Last Friday, a great discussion started with Locker Talk co-host Pete Paczko about the 2013 Grey Cup and how no one is really ready for 2014 to start because we then have to truly say goodbye to 2013 and start making new memories good or bad. I haven't talked to one Riders fan this off-season who hasn't watched the game again and still has it on their PVR (guilty on both accounts). They still get goosebumps when watching it because of everything that game meant and how well TSN brought it to us that November night. That game may be truly be "Rider Nation" at its best. Can it get any better? If so, please explain because I don't think you can get any better than winning it on your home turf in a stadium that is a Canadian treasure that will soon be no more.

--Word is new Pats owner Anthony Marquart will be in the CKRM building next week to meet with the bosses and start dialogue towards future Pats broadcasts. I can't wait to meet Mr. Marquart and congratulate him on being the new owner. I think this guy and QCSE is exactly what the starved Regina Pats fan is looking for. I don' t know if he can turn it around in one season when it comes to the on-ice product, but he's going to give it his best shot. Rod and I were discussing off-air (and some of it on-air) what we would like to see. If even some of those ideas come to fruition, I think we will see the start of a successful relationship.

--News stories out of Alberta say a measles outbreak has hit. It only has me wondering if Cougar womens basketball coach Dave Taylor is on a recruiting mission to our neighbouring province. I keed Dave, I keed!!!

--I am still choked over learning "Fine Frames" in the Northgate Mall has closed up shop. That place provided an excellent stop for Christmas gifts in the past. It looks like more online shopping may have to be done unless I can find a new place that sells the stuff they did. I am hoping they have relocated somewhere.

--Is it just me or is the size of some potholes in Regina bigger than in years past. There are some that if you put a cover over top of it might be able to house a family of two. Lets just say the city has some work to do this year.

 --The WHL makes a big deal about its bantam draft and why not. It might be the only time some kids hear themselves getting drafted. Yeah, I wish we could see the fruits of a draft quicker than what we do, but the rules aren't changing any time soon.'

--The youngest daughter plays her first softball game of the year Sunday. Once again, that first game happens in the month of May. SIGHHHHHH!!!! Global weather girl Tiffany Lizee said the 20 degrees we hit Thursday was the first time in over 200 days it has been over 20 in the YQR. Really?

 --Rob Ford. Oy vay!

--I'm beginning to wonder if he will see some kind of work stoppage in the CFL. It seems to me neither side is in a big hurry to get this done and training camps are coming. I think it will be a huge disaster for the CFL if they allow some kind of labor disruption to affect them. There has to be more money for the players after the massive deal signed with TSN. The league has perhaps never been in as good a shape as it is now and there seems to be a realistic chance that all the momentum that has been built is going to go up in smoke.


--The debate is on after it was revealed the U of S is getting 52-grand from the Riders 50-50 which as we know is the bread and butter for the U of R Rams. Some wonder why the Huskies should get that much money when they do nothing to help sell tickets. That is a debate I'm not wading into.

--Biggest surprises in the first month of baseball----Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins
--Biggest disappointments in the first month of baseball ---Pittsburgh Pirates,  Boston Red Sox

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



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2nd Round Playoff Sked

The first round has just ended, but you don’t have to wait long before the second round will start. Montreal will play against Boston tonight and another two series will begin on Friday.
You can view the full schedule below, courtesy of NHL.com:
The first round has just ended, but you don’t have to wait long before the second round will start. Montreal will play against Boston tomorrow and another two series will begin on Friday.
You can view the full schedule below, courtesy of NHL.com:
East Schedule

West Schedule