Something To "Mitch" About

"Would you rather us throw for 500 yards and lose?" That is the question Rob Bagg posed to everyone who was grumbling about the performance of the offence on Saturday night as the Riders won an ugly one 16-11 over Montreal. Bagg is absolutely right. Whether you win a football game 1-0 or 5-4 as was the case at one point Saturday night or 54-53, the bottom line is winning the football game and getting the two points. The Riders won, they got the two points. It was as ugly as could be, but there are no style points given out.

Here are some of my thoughts as I walked out of Mosaic Saturday night

--The Darian Durant haters just won't accept the guy for whatever reason. Listening to the CKRM post-game show on the way home, callers were quick to throw blame on the Riders QB for the offensive performance. ???? I just don't get it. I don't know what the haters want. This guy stays in the pocket on the Rob Bagg touchdown knowing he is going to get clobbered yet he absorbs that hit to make the play. He runs a quarterback draw not once, but twice to get a first down late in the game to keep a drive alive and kill the clock. He didn't turn the ball over. He was sixty percent on completion percentage. Was every throw great? No. Does Darian deserve the criticism he still gets? NO! There's no use banging your head against the wall trying to figure it out. Some people just won't give credit where credit is due. Its the same with Brendan Taman. As Luc Mullinder so aptly put it on the 620 CKRM post-game show, you won't realize what you had until he is gone. If he wins another Grey Cup during his time here, he will arguably be the greatest Rider to ever have worn the uniform having taken this team to the promised land twice if not more. Perhaps these Durant haters would rather have the likes of Kevin Mason, Reggie Slack or Marvin Graves quarterbacking the team. It's frustrating, but its amusing as well. It also makes me laugh when people say its the media creating the criticism. Yeah. its the media phoning in to the post-game shows, yeah, its the media who write anonymously for the most part into the blogs, yeah, its the media's fault. People that throw that at me just make me chuckle.

--John Chick is John Chick. What more can you say about him that hasn't been said.

--Tom Higgins can rationalize it anyway he wants, but he screwed up by not going for two after the Duron Carter touchdown late in the 4th. Higgins said there was enough time to get the ball back. He's right, but going for two at least means you get the ball back and you are tied instead of behind. If there was lots of time left, why gamble on 3rd and 4 from midfield with 1:45 left when they could have punted and maybe won some field position. Higgins arguably blew it for the Alouettes on this night.

--Al Bradbury and his crew did nothing to heighten the image of CFL officials. The offside call on John Chick in the first half was perhaps the worst call I have seen this year. If that isn't, then his explanation on the no pass interference on Chris Getzlaf because the two were running side-by-side is. ???????? I asked people on Twitter what they would grade old Al's crew for their performance Saturday night. I gave them a C Minus and many who answered said I was being generous.

--It was a very classy move by many Rider fans to give Taj Smith a nice ovation when he caught his first pass. I'm sure that meant a lot to #88 who you know is going through some battles. The Riders are giving this kid every opportunity to stick around, but they've told him the time to grow up is now. Rider fans let Taj know they are on his side and it was encouraging to see.

--Why doesn't the kisscam ever venture up to the pressbox and focus in on Carm and Rod? Tell me the place wouldn't go ballistic as Carm planted one on RP or vice-versa!

--I like Chris Milo, but I think he needs to be pushed a little. Bringing a body in wouldn't be the worst thing for the Riders kicker. Competition is always good.

Other thoughts

--The CFL has to start becoming concerned over the bad football games we are seeing. I was told by some that if I thought the game at Mosaic was bad it was nothing compared to the Edmonton-Ottawa game. These games are starting to become commonplace and its not fan-friendly. I'm not sure how you fix it, but somewhere somehow the CFL must find a way to create some excitement and perhaps it will come, but right now the product isn't appealing to the fan and that is not a good sign.

--I hate to say it, but it looks like Weston Dressler's dream of playing in the NFL is over. I was excited to see Weston get a chance even if it was a small one to do his thing with a national audience on FOX watching but sadly all we saw of Dressler was him sitting on the bench before the game started. He stayed on the bench too as far as I could see as he didn't catch any passes or return any kicks. My guess is Weston will be back in the CFL by Labour Day and he will be wearing green despite talk of him landing in Ottawa or Toronto. Brendan Taman will not let #7 get away.

--John Cena will be awfully sore this morning after the "pummelling" he took at the hands of Brock Lesnar. A man should not get thrown on his head and neck 16 times the way Cena did. Yes its scripted, but you still have to sell it to make it look good.

--Did Triple H reach into the wardrobe of his ex-woman Chyna when giving an outfit for current wife Stephanie McMahon to wear. The boss' daughter looked like she was wearing garb from the 90's diva in the ring for her match against Brie Bella which surprised very few methinks.

--The Blue Jays are done. At this rate, I can't help but wonder if they will be a 500 team the way they are plummeting in the standings. I still say opportunity blown at the deadline. Some disagree and that's fine. All I know is while others strengthened their team, the Jays did not for whatever reason.

--Where was all the rain we were supposed to get this weekend? Saturday was calling for 10-20 millimeters in Regina. Where was it? Environment Canada---10 percent accurate 90 percent of the time.

--Sounds like the event of the year was held at the Turvey Centre Friday night with the Frank McCrystal roast. I've heard many a story from many a person. I shoulda went!

--Congrats to the Regina Thunder as they beat the Hilltops 19-16 in overtime. Its never a bad thing when you beat the Hilltops is it Regina.

--Congrats also to the Regina kids representing Canada at the Little League Junior and Senior World Series. The junior team barely lost out on qualifying for a semi-final. It was said they were the best Canadian reps perhaps ever sent to Taylor Michigan at the Juniors. That's a good thing.

--Have a great week!

Over to You Rod, Over To You Phil, Over to You Pete

This And That

 

 

 

 

Are you ready for some football?  The forecast is calling for weather that may be a little wet, but the rain that is being called for should be out of the way for a 5 o'clock kickoff at the best place to be in Canada on game day. On paper, one would think the Montreal Alouettes would be hard-pressed to get the ball in the endzone against that fierce Riders defence, but they don't play the game on paper and anything can happen. I expect the Riders to win and cover the 13 1/2 point spread, but who knows in the CFL.

 

 

As is usual to end the week, here are some thoughts running through my muddled brain in no particular order...

 

 

• Is a loss on Saturday night the end for Tom Higgins? It hasn't gone well for the Alouettes coach and the team seems to be in big sense of disarray. They fired Dan Hawkins last year when the team was 2-3 and that team was considerably better than what I've seen. If the Riders win, we'll find out soon.

 

• Did anyone see Glen Johnson's interview on TSN the other night? He suggested penalties are up because of all the new players in the league especially those in  Ottawa still trying to learn the game. Yeah Glen, Henry Burris, Keith Shologan and Jovon Johnson are all wet behind the ears rookies. The game has been significantly hampered by the work of the stripes this year and they need to start doing a better job. Johnson needed to come out and say something to appease the fan, but that wasn't it.

 

• Its been running back roulette in Saskatchewan this year with Anthony Allen, Will Ford, Hugh Charles and Jerome Messam all carrying the rock, but its been worse in Calgary. Jon Cornish, Anthony Walter, Martell Mallett have all had a turn running the ball and now Charles is supposed to start this week. The similarities end there though as John Hufnagel has had to rotate different guys in because of injury while you know the situation here.

 

• Ricky Ray had no receivers and he threw for almost 300 yards in a victory over Winnipeg. He isn't washed up and may be proving why he was the #1 pick in the TSN top 50.

 

• How are Rider fans on the east side going to treat Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson? How will he treat them? (BLOGGER NOTE: We won't find out, I have just found out the Alouettes aren't bringing him on the trip as he is hurt. DAMN!)

 

• It was too hot for me on Thursday, but I'd rather have that than 50 below with the windchill. Then again, I can sleep in an un air conditioned home when its 50 below. SIGHHHH!!!

 

• Thursday was Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queens across Canada. The heat had a lot to do with it, but I think every Reginan decided to get a Blizzard. I stopped at one and saw a lineup outside the door so I went to another one and once again there was a wait outside the door with the wait on the street for the drive-thru making me think I was at Tim Hortons. It was for a great cause though so good job Regina!

 

• I am a fan of potato chips, but all four of the flavours Lays has in their contest are somewhat stomach-turning. A cinnamon bun flavoured potato chip. Uhhhhhhhhh no!

 

• Is the summer truly over when Pats training camp gets set to start. Hockey season is here.  Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the fact that the Pats are getting back at it, but can we wait until after Labour Day?

 

• NISSAN Canada's "Back in the Game" program is helping 21 high schools across Canada with their football program by doing something whether it be renovating facilities to donating equipment. Regina's Johnson High School is the only Saskatchewan school involved. NISSAN is giving Johnson new helmets. I spoke with their head coach Jason Janssen about this and he is over the moon. Helmets are a costly thing and not a lot of kids are playing football at Johnson so its tough to get the $$$$. He is hoping this might draw some more kids out to play and I hope he's right. TSN will follow the exploits of some of the schools NISSAN is helping this year so I hope Johnson gets some air time on a CFL broadcast.

 

• NHL number one draft pick overall Aaron Ekblad was talking about a concussion he received recently on TSN Thursday night. He looked like Vanilla Ice!!!! That look has to change and change soon!

 

• OK Coke, I'm more of a Pepsi guy anyways, but if you had a can with my name on it, I might change my mind and get some. I guess you don't think "Mitchell" is a good enough name so I will just keep getting Pepsi. Thanks though

 

• John Cena will beat Brock Lesnar at Summerslam

• The HIW gang is back in Regina tonight as they have a show happening at the Exchange. The Access crews start rolling again on HIW in September. They have been touring the province and from all accounts they have had great shows. The guys behind the curtain are working hard to make a success of this and slowly, but surely they are succeeding. If you were at some of the shows across the province, you might have seen a young lady named Jaida in the ring. Jaida wasn't at shows after last weekend, but she had a good reason. She was in Portland, Oregon standing in the ring with Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella as they got WWE fans ready for their match at Summerslam. Jaida was playing the role of Daniel Bryan's (Brie's real life husband) massage therapist and told the crowd she was having an affair with Daniel. From a crowd of 500 one night in La Ronge to that of 16-thousand a couple of nights later in Portland. That's the life of a wrestler boys and girls.  

•  A Seattle NHL team might drop the Oilers to my number 2 team. Might I said.  I wonder where their rink would be and if it would be close to CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field which are side by side. There is certainly room in that area of the city for a hockey arena. Time will tell.

 

• Have a great weekend!  GO RIDERS!!!  GO SEAHAWKS!!



Chick and Messam Get CFL Player Awards

Saskatchewan Roughrider defensive end John Chick and running back Jerome Messam have each been named a CFL Player of the Week.

Chick was named Defensive Player of the Week after another impressive performance in Thursday’s 23-17 victory over the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg. The 31-year-old Wyoming native wreaked havoc while registering five defensive tackles and three quarterback sacks.

For the season, Chick has 18 defensive tackles, six tackles for loss, one forced fumble, and a league leading nine quarterback sacks. This is the fourth time in five CFL seasons that Chick has picked up Defensive Player of the Week and second time this season.

Messam was named Canadian Player of the Week after an equally impressive week seven performance. The 29-year-old Toronto native powered his way to 126 yards on 19 carries as the Rider offence stuck to the ground attack.

The five year CFL veteran boosted his season totals 140 yards on 26 carries in four games since joining the Riders. It is the seventh time in his career Messam has picked up Player of the Week honours.

It is the fifth and sixth time this season that a Rider has earned Player of the Week honours after Ricky Foley (twice), John Chick (twice), Sam Hurl and Jerome Messam have all been recognized.

Robin Williams on Golf ***R RATED****

Robin Williams is dead at the age of 66 having committed suicide. The man's humor was second to none. I fully realize this video has four letter words all over the place and for that I do apologize in advance, but this might be one of the funniest skits I've ever seen and had me in tears when I first saw it.

Something To "Mitch" About

I've preached about this  for a couple of years, and now TSN's Duane Forde is getting onboard by saying its time the CFL scrapped the East-West format and went to one nine-team conference. Once again this weekend, three of four interdivisional matchups were won overwhelmingly by the Western Conference team.

In fact, in East vs West games this year, the West is 15-2. The Riders lost one of those games in Toronto, but who is the other team to lose to an Eastern opponent this year. Think about it!!!!  Montreal beat BC at Molson Stadium 24-9 in Week 2.

I have thought for a number of years the CFL should be one big conference. The top two teams get byes to what would be the semi-finals with 3 playing 6 and 4 playing 5. This would eliminate the cross-over and would mean the best teams are getting into the playoffs. Are we that stuck on East-West that we need it. Would you not like to see a Calgary-Saskatchewan Grey Cup? I'm sure those in Eastern Canada would hate it, but those in Eastern Canada don't seem to fond of our game right now with the exception of those in Ottawa.

Its an idea the league should seriously look at.

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Many people have asked what I think of the Taj Smith situation and what I think will happen to him. The answer is I really don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if he has played his last down for the green and white. Boys are boys and when boys are on the road, they will go out. However, when you are told to be at a meeting at a certain time, you had better be there ready to go and Taj wasn't. In fact, they couldn't find him until Monday afternoon. That sends a message and its not a good one. The other question a lot of people have asked is "Who ratted on Taj?" I don't know. I wasn't on the trip so how would I know and no, Rod Pedersen doesn't fill me in on every road story or every detail surrounding the club. I would hope it wasn't someone in the organization and I would hope it wasn't some fan. If it was the latter, I hope the guy realizes he may have changed someone's life forever.

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Do ya like the Riders new jersey or do you hate it? It seems as if its 50-50. Put me down in the I like it category. I want to see what the other teams are going to roll out.
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I came across a very interesting story this week. A poll was taken (secretively of course) amongst NHL players, coaches and executives about who they would rather have on their team---Sidney Crosby or Jonathan Toews. The answer was Toews. That really doesn't surprise me as I think the Chicago captain is the best all-around player in the NHL, but it did surprise me that players, executives and coaches think that way. Would they rather have Patrick Kane than Sid? I can't see them wanting Ovechkin or Crosby. I'll ask you, who would you rather have...Sid or Toews?

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Did everyone survive the storm Friday? That came in quick and it was nasty. I was doing public address at the Red Sox game and you could see the lightning coming our way from the West. It started to rain lightly around the 7th inning and when the game ended, it was still just spitting. It was doing more than spit about 20 minutes later. That game ended just in time. Some of the pictures in places like White City were unreal.  The storm made me wonder just when it was that we had that massive hailstorm in Regina in the summer of 2013...was that also not mid-August? I was right in the middle of that and it was some kind of nasty. I thought a tornado was getting ready to roll down my street, but not as bad as one of my neighbours who hit the basement immediately.
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It was disappointing to see Weston Dressler get very little action in the KC Chiefs pre-season opener. As  much as I hate to say it because I want to see Weston succeed, I think he will back in Riderville perhaps as early as the Labour Day Classic. He has to win over some coaches in playing time and that first game was the opportunity to do so. I don't know if he will get much of an opportunity the rest of the way. I hope I'm wromg because I'd rather see him wearing Chiefs red than Riders green. As for Kory Sheets, he didn't see much time either, but there is talk he could do no worse than the practice roster in Oakland. That's a win for Kory if it happens. If he comes back this way too, it not only creates another chapter in the running back story here, but it loads up the Wheat Warriors for the 2nd half of the season.

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Regina's baseball community should be beaming. The Red Sox finished another positive season on the weekend and even though they were eliminated by Swift Current on the weekend, it was still a pretty good year. If the performance of the Red Sox isn't good enough, how about what is up and coming. Not only is a Regina team competing at the Little League Junior World Series in Michigan, but I found out Saturday a Regina team is also competing at the Little League Senior World Series in Maine after winning the Canadians last Thursday. This is outstanding!  Those connected with Kiwanis Baseball and the North Regina Little League should be pretty proud of what likely is the greatest season we've had. With the kids on these teams ranging from 14-17, the future looks bright for b-ball in the Queen City.

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Tiger who? The PGA championship proved golf does not need Tiger Woods anymore as there are many ready to assume his spot. Sunday's final round was maybe the most collective and most dramatic round of golf I have seen.  Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickleson. Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson fought it out with Ernie Els making a late charge as did several others. Graham DeLaet might have been in the mix if his putter was working Sunday, but he wasn't that far back. At one time, golf revolved around the doings of Tiger. No more! There are enough established vets and young guns to keep this sport entertaining for years to come.

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The Blue Jays can forget about being AL East champions and now have to concern themselves with getting the 2nd and final wildcard spot. I don't know if they will do it, but while fading, they aren't dead in the water yet. Three games against the Mariners in Seattle with the first one being against Felix Hernandez won't be easy. Going into the week, they are tied with Seattle a game and a half back of Kansas City. If the Mariners should sweep this set, its bye-bye Jays and will leave one to wonder again just why Alex Anthopoulos chose not to add any significant pieces prior to the trade deadline. CKRM co-worker Chris Harris asked a great question during the 19 inning marathon against the Tigers. That question being----do they start selling beer again at some point. I think beer sales end after the 7th so that would be a long time for a big crowd to go suds-less. Two other Jays points---would they have a playoff spot basically cinched if 2nd half Mark Buehrle was like first half Mark Buehrle? What happened there? The second thing is how much longer is John Gibbons going to employ Juan Francisco. The guy seemingly does nothing but strike out or pop up.

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The future is starting to arrive in Wrigleyville. Javier Baez is going to be a star and his major league career started off with a bang as he homered three times in two games. I still think the Cubs compete for a pennant in 2016.
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What did Heather Anderson do at Global? Both of her compadres are leaving her! How can you leave Heather Anderson I ask??? Well, if you're Kent Morrison, you get an opportunity at Global Edmonton and if you're Rustie Dean, you go back into the world of radio.  Heather, if Rustie comes to work for the Harvard chain, you are more than welcome to come visit anytime and if you want to read a newscast or two, I'm OK with that.
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I don't think John Cena is losing the belt to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam next week, but I am interested to see what goes down at the PPV. The Stephanie McMahon-Brie Bella match won't be of the quality Undertaker-Triple H was, but it will be as entertaining as hell I'm guessing. It was that way when Vince got in the ring. I'm thinking we see a sister turn before this match is done, but we'll see. When is the WWE coming back here anyhoo?

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I still want to find a way to legislate the afternoon nap into the workday. Just a quick 45 minute nap will do! Hey if people can go and waste their time smoking, I can waste it napping can I not?

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And finally, lets let the Manning brothers take you out this week with this...



Have a great Monday!

Remembering The Past

 The first Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup team will come together again for a few days in October–almost surely tied around a home game. It would make the most sense to have it around the opener Thursday Oct. 9 when the rival Calgary Flames are at Rexall Place to kick off the 2014-2015 season in a big way but the Oilers also have home games against Vancouver and Montreal in October so it could be one of those .

There will probably be a series of activities over several days (dinners and such, maybe for charity) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1984 championship squad that knocked off the four-time winning New York Islanders in five games in the final.

A fair number of the ’84 team players took part in the Heritage Classic outdoor alumni game against the Montreal Canadiens on that achingly cold day in November, 2003, but this would be the first time the entire squad and coaches, training and front office staff and maybe even owner Peter Pocklington, who boldly predicted a Cup party within the first five years in the NHL, would hopefully all be here for a reunion.

Looking back to the ’84 team, here’s the roster, by position:
Goal–Grant Fuhr, Andy Moog.
Defence–Paul Coffey, Lee Fogolin, Kevin Lowe, Charlie Huddy, Randy Gregg, Don Jackson.
Forwards–Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Dave Hunter, Pat Hughes, Kevin McClelland, Dave Semenko, Dave Lumley, Ken Linseman, Willy Lindstrom, Jaroslav Pouzar, Pat Conacher.
Coaches–Glen Sather, John Muckler, Ted Green.
Owner–Pocklington.
Chief Scout–Barry Fraser.
Training staff–Barrie Stafford, Peter Millar, Lyle Kulchisky.
They all got their name on the Stanley Cup, the first of five for the Oilers.

Smaller rosters back in 1984, obviously. Just 21 players’ names on the Cup. Winger Raimo Summanen and defenceman Rick Chartraw also got into some playoff action that spring but didn’t get their names engraved.
It’s expected that Oilers current owner Darryl Katz, who keeps a low profile except on draft day when he’s up on the stage with the team’s first pick, will be involved in the reunion, too. He hung around many of the Oiler players from those glory days.

Several of the Oiler players live here–Fogolin, Lowe, Gregg, Hunter, Lumley, Fuhr. Green lives here, as well. So does Stafford and Kulchisky. Several will have to come in from Europe. Kurri from Finland, Lindstrom from Sweden, Pouzar from the Czech Republic. Jackson is coaching in Munich. Huddy is an assistant coach for the Winnipeg Jets these days; he’ll have to take time out from his duties there. They have a home game Oct. 9 against Phoenix Coyotes. Sather will have to leave his duties as Rangers’ GM for a few days, too and fly in. Fraser, who was the architect through the draft, has lived in Mexico for years.

If it’s Oct. 9 and the Flames are here that would be fitting. The Oilers beat their greatest rival in seven games in the second round of the playoff run in 1984 with Linseman getting the winner in the last game.

(Edmonton Journal)