Well a lot late today but at least I'm updating this thing.

Great defensive outing for the Riders last night. No Td's allowed against one of the best offenses in the league. And Fred Perry was a monster. 3 sacks should get him an award this week. Unless Hank fell in the shower and blames a bruise on Perry then the CFL will fine him. I say the D is back. They played 57 1/2 minutes last week and 60 this week. Reggie Hunt finally broke the shutout and got his first sack of the year. And I get to open my package of tombstones and put one on my cape. And I feel really good about the fact that I get to put Burris on the tombstone.


The O still has a ways to go if we want a home playoff game. They were JUST good enough to win last night. I know Calgary has a good D but Joseph still made some bad decisions. But this week Calgary couldn't take advantage of them. But he also made some very good plays. He could have had another TD minimum but it was dropped. This is a happy post so I'm not pointing any fingers. Maybe. Matt Dominguez had another fantastic game. The concentration on his TD catch was incredible. OK he should have caught it at it's highest point but he stayed focused and caught it a lot lower. 6 points gets you the benfit of the doubt. Kenton Keith had a pretty solid game again. He is finding his groove but Dorsey taking the majority of the work down the stretch worries me. It's not making Keith very happy and I don't think Dorsey can do the job on a fulltime basis if he's called upon. We have KK who can be a gamebreaker so we should use him unless the game is totally in hand. But I'm not in the meetings so what do I know?


Next game is in Calgary and I'm hyped. My wife and I are going up on the Rider Alliance bustrip. For $165 dollars you get the bus up there, a game ticket, and a hotel room The deadline for purchasing tickets has been extended until noon on Wednesday August 2. I did the trip to Edmonton last year and it was a total blast.


As for the picture that I posted with this entry that's me and CKRM's Rod Pedersen, the voice of the Riders. I know he does other stuff too but it's football season. He posted the pic of me from CFL.ca on his blog so I had to get a pic of him to post on mine. Rod is a very good broadcaster, too good for Regina at times. And in my opinion he is one of a very small handful of balanced journalists in this city. I don't always agree with him but even when I don't he presents the facts and lets you makeup your own mind. Very seldom does he present his own opinion as the facts and try to force it on you. It wouldn't surprise me at all to someday turn on an NHL game and see Rod doing the play by play. He is that good. And then the pic on this page would be even cooler.

Well that's it for a couple of days. I'll probably update this thing before we leave for Calgary. Thanks for reading my ramblings. And there are actually a lot of people who read this. According to adsense this page is averaging around 100 hits a day. And I don't have that big of a family. 

A little late getting this done today. I tried to drink the memory of that game away. It didn't work. I can still remember most of it.


Anybody that didn't watch the game and just seen the score would think the Riders played OK. But the score flattered them. The special teams allowed a punt return TD by Levinston. And that wasn't good play by Toronto it was bad tackling by the Riders. The D managed to give up three big plays all night, but that was all it took to lose. But does the blame for this game go on the D? Not a chance. They also put up 5 sacks and had good pressure all night. The two guys on D who really got schooled last night were Morgan and Davis. I thought I was in a time warp when Morgan gave up that long one right in front of me. Almost exactly like the one he gave up right in front of me against Montreal last year. Bad timing, bad positioning, bad play. Losing McCalla hurt this D. And Eddie Davis giving up that long one is inexcusable. He simply got outran and Jackie Mitchell just managed to get in the way. But like I said the D played well for the most part, only allowed 19 points so we could have won.


Now for the O. The numbers look very good for Kerry Joseph, 26-38 for 405 yards. But this time the numbers lie. Sorry all you KJ fans but he should have been pulled about the middle of the second quarter. Brutal play to start the game, again. He put up 266 yards passing in the fourth quarter. That means he just managed 139 yards total in the first three quarters. Not good enough to stay in the game. If Nealon put up those sort of 3/4 numbers the pitchforks would have been out and the manure trucks would have been loading up. He is slow making his decisions and it shows in the amount of sacks and hits he's taking. He is making a very good offensive line look very bad. He shuffles his feet and pats the ball and looks like a highschool QB for most of a game. He has all the physical tools but the coaches HAVE to work with him a lot. And damn it Kerry get a better grip on that ball. They only charged him with one fumble but he put it on the carpet at least 3 more times, I had a good view when he got sacked a couple of times close to my seats(front row gives a nice close up of those plays). But it was nice to see MattD get some yards and Corey Grant finally got thrown to. And they finally used KK. Keep giving him the touches and he will break through. A dozen a game is just about the minimum.


And now for the real reason for the loss. Piss poor coaching. I've supported Barrett before but he just isn't getting any better. He will NEVER pull a cold QB, he makes excuses about the receivers running bad patterns, the line not blocking, the wind, the refs, the sun got in his eyes, or the fans. But really he is just afraid to put in the backup. And our backup is the guy that 90% of fans wanted as our starter this year before the Ottawa fiasco happened. Crandell is the guy that Barret had annointed as the starter when we had a 9 team league. And now he's afraid to goto the bullpen. Not encouraging. And here is my major bitch about the coaching last night. Down by 15 with just under 6 minutes left. It's third and ten and in FG position. And he goes for it. DUMB DUMB DUMB. I told the security guy next to me that we would lose by a FG after that. He didn't agree. I was right. If it was third and less than 4 then try to get the first down. Ten yards is tough to pick up with three tries, very very tough with one. When you are down by more than 2 TD's you take the three points and hope for another chance to score. I let a very loud FUCK lose after that, and I don't often swear at games because there are too many kids around me. I apologised afterwards.


Anyway I hope that Wynn is alright. It's a physical game and injuies happen but I hope he recovers quickly. As for RickyW, if he was at home serving his suspension like he should be then he wouldn't have a broken arm. Sounds cold I know but that has always been my opinion about his situation. He knew the rules, broke them then got special treatment in order to play for Toronto. And he knew the risks involved in playing professional football and choose to play.


And I have to thank Rod Pedersen for putting the pic of me from the CFL.ca site on his blog today. Very cool Rod, except that "superfan" thing always bugs me. I'm no superfan, just a guy in makeup at Rider games. But thanks anyway. And if you don't check out his blog here is the address http://rodpedersen.blogspot.com/ It's always a good read and a fantastic way to keep up with local sports.
And for anybody that is interested in going to Calgary for the Riders-Stamps game August 5 the Rider Alliance is putting on a bustrip. The price is $165 per person and includes bus, hotel and game ticket. Check it out http://www.riderville.com/modules.php?name=News&file=news_dispatches&f_subcat=press_releases&archive=1&sid1=8058 My wife and I will be there. In full costume showing the Green and White in Calgary.

Anyway thanks for reading my hungover ramblings.

Sweet victory!!! That was a football game last night. Well actually two great, gritty games. Very nice to see Hamilton get their first win last night. And the fact that it was against Calgary made it sweeter. And the Rider game was pure emotion to watch. I admit I was a little bit worried early. On the first drive when both Szarka and Richardson couldn't haul in the easy 6 points I thought the game was going wrong early. And going into halftime down by almost 2 TD's didn't help the bloodpressure either. I wanted Jackie Mitchell's head on a spike after the first half. The phrase "piss poor" describes his performance up to the half perfectly. But after the half it looked like a different player out there, I would have loved to be in the dressing room at halftime to hear the changes. Richie Hall came through in the second half. His defense found their swagger and pride and came out kicking ass. Kitwana was a special teams monster and played his usual great defense. This guy will be an all-star soon. My man Reggie played his usual super solid game. He was a tackling machine. He might not have got any sacks but he caused some. I sure hope that Mitchell can carry over his play from the second half into the next game. When they have two outside LB's to worry about then Reggie will start racking up some tombstones.
Jamel Richardson has to be the most depressed guy on the planet today. He started this season damn hot and now he gets to watch from the bench on crutches. One of those occupational hazards but it doesn't make you feel any better when you are the one who got hurt. I know from experience about being hurt. I hope that after the swelling goes down that his injury is less serious than it appears right now. I've had the chance to talk to him a lot this year and he has impressed me with his attitude and drive. Whether it was just because of the NFL money waiting after the season or not he is motivated. Heal fast Jamel because the team needs your physical play in the second half of the season.
Now for a couple minor negatives. Our D-tackles are not the force that they should be. And this is a concern. I know that Nate has had back problems and I know from personal experience that an injured back is a hard thing to recover from. But staying away from the ice cream man is a very good start big guy. He has cut down his purchases from the ice cream man at TF after practice, and according to a few people he is paying more attention to his weight. I think that as soon as the temps start to stabilize his back will feel better and he will make his usual impact. But Scott Schultz is starting to worry me. He took some time off from practice a while ago for a sore back and I think that it's still bothering him and he is not being honest about it to the coaches. And if he's not telling the coaches whats wrong he isn't getting the treatment he needs. Be honest Scott and get better. It's a long season and we need you at the end!!
Tristan Clovis made a name for himself last night. I hope that the Store staff was paying attention so they know who he is when he tries to buy something now. I love to see the rookies doing well. Even though Suiter screwed up on his call last night and blamed Tristan for Jackie's mistakes. I rewatched that part and it wasn't the safety's mistake, Mitchell just got outran. Oh well Jackie made up for that in a big way.
And Luca Congi is continuing his great rookie campaign. This kid will be the Rider kicker for a long, long time. My son will grow up watching him like I grew up watching Ridgway. And an added bonus for Terry is that Luca knows him and says hi everytime he sees him. Luca is a great kid and a very dedicated football player. I must be getting old when I start calling pro players "kid".
Now for my last thoughts today. Kenton Keith. Leave the man alone already. When the facts of what happened that night come out a lot of people will eat a lot of crow. He's a young black man with some cash. And that seems to be a combination that a lot of people here want to believe the worst of. Get over the redneck attitude that Regina is getting famous for. And the rumours about him are just plain silly. I've heard most of them and I decided to track some down at the source. So far none of the people that were supposedly harmed by his actions have any clue about the rumours. So I call bullshit on most of the rumours.
Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Well that sucked badly. I can't believe that I stayed sober at the game and they played that badly. Not even one beer after the tailgate. Today would have been a great day to wake up and not remember the game. But no I screw that up and don't drink. Calgary scores 53 freaking points. And to make it worse the D allows that fake punt to pick up yards. They practice that all week and still let it happen. I can't finish writing this or I'll just be pissed off all day. The Riders ruined half my weekend already they don't get to ruin the rest.

Upstaged by my boy!! For those that weren't at F.W. Hill mall yesterday for the "Saskenergy Wear your Green Day" you missed seeing me upstaged by my 6 year old. They had two contests, "Rider Idol" and "Wackiest Fan". My son Terry decided to enter "Rider Idol". So he gets onstage in front of a couple of hundred people and sings "Green is the Colour". Picture a six year old with a green and white mullet wig and shiny cape and green superhero mask singing. He didn't just sing the chorus, he belted out the first verse too. He would have done the whole song but Rod Pederson took the mic back. Usually Terry is a pretty shy kid in front of adults but put him on stage and he's a natural. The crowd and the judges loved him. I kinda felt sorry for the other 2 contestants because there was no way they were going to beat a cute 6 year old who can sing. He took home a HUGE prize package, that we priced out later at around $230. He's a very happy kid and as you can tell we are very proud parents.

Now my part of the contest came up. The "Wacky Fan" contest. I was in full costume and makeup. Even I admit it looked good. The other contestants were saying they only entered to fill out the field. So they introduce us and the crowd claps then they just hand us all calendars and it's over. No winner announced or anything. We were all a little confused. So afterwards I asked one of the talent scouts they had wandering around if he knew who won. He had no idea and thought they screwed up. So anyway he got the photographer to take the picture for an upcoming calendar that was part of the prize and got us to sign a release so we will be in the calendar. They would have forgotten all about the calendar if we wouldn't have reminded them.

All in all it was a fun time. And Rod did a very good job as MC, as always. But I think that might be my only contest this week. The "13th man" thing on the practice field is not very well run and really doesn't reward creativity. Or take into account the fact that some of us can't dance. Not because of lack of rythm but because my back says no dancing. I dance on the practice field for a weak contest and I go home and miss the game. No joke no exagaration. And I don't spend hours before a game getting ready to get beat by somebody who's only Rider gear is a shirt out of a beer box. I thought the 13th man was supposed to be for hardcore, bleed green fans. Not somebody who is half cut before the game and puts on a 30 second show. I can handle losing to people like Jason (dancing Homer for those on the bus trip). The guy is freaking crazy and has a very good costume. Or even the chicken man is he entered but having 4 good hardcore fans lose to the lady that won last game was sad.

Beautiful weather and a very good team. So why aren't people buying some damn tickets to Saturday's game? I figure I'm entitled to complain. We have 3 season tickets. So we are doing our part. And if you are reading this you probably got here from a Rider site and have tickets too. So what's the problem with sales? Everybody said we needed a QB, so we got one. Then they complained about the kicker, we got one of those too(more on him later). We needed a wide receiver who could stretch the defense. So who did we get? Jason Armstead. The fastest guy in the league. We needed a new offensive coordinator so we picked up an exciting young guy in Tommy Condell. This guy is intense. If you get a chance to watch a practice pay attention to him. He notices everything.


So Mr.Shivers has done every little thing that the bandwagoners wanted and still they sit on their asses at home. What does it take to get the "casual fan" out to games? A winning team? After this weekend we will be. An upgraded stadium? They have been working towards that for the last few years and it's better every game. An exciting game day experience? The fans make that, if they show up. Nothing better than 25,000+ on a great summer night at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field. So lets do our part to make MSaTF a horrible, nasty, scary place for the gap toothed wonder to play at this weekend. If you haven't bought tickets get to the ticket office now, don't finish reading this, just grab your keys and go.






OK hopefully you just got back from a lined up ticket office. Now you can read the rest of my ramblings.(If you don't have a ticket I hope you have a good reason for it)

Now to the new kicker. As everybody knows we had Pikula, Baker and Congi in camp trying out for the kicker job. Baker got an apple and a bus ticket early. So the battle was between Pikula and Congi. And early in camp it looked like Pikula was the man. He was out punting and out kicking Congi. But what happened? Pikula plateaued and Congi kept improving. And he's still improving. That's what you need in a rookie kicker. Constant, noticable improvement. He won the Special Teams Player of The Week for his showing in the second game against B.C. So you would think that deserves some praise from the local paper, right? Didn't happen. Darrell Davis writes, and I quote.

"So far it looks like the Roughriders made a so-so decision in drafting and keeping Luca Congi. A second-round selection who was supposed to challenge Rob Pikula as a replacement for Paul McCallum, the free agent allowed to join B.C. in a contract squabble, Congi has made five of six field goals and is averaging a league-low 38.2 yards per punt. Hampered by a groin injury, McCallum has made one field goal and averaged 41.2 yards per punt. Cut by Saskatchewan and signed by B.C. to fill in for McCallum, Pikula has made five of six field goals and averaged a league-high 48.2 yards per punt."

Now how is that for supporting a rookie? And he even got the few facts that he used wrong. Fleming has the league's lowest punting average and Westwood has the highest. That's the part that makes me call Davis horrible. He doesn't get his facts right. He has access to the same online sources that I have and it took me less than a minute to check the punting stats. Don't give me any "deadline" crap either. Practice ends at 12:30, no other local sports to cover until the evening and the Leader Post goes to press around 10:00PM. And for anybody readin that thinks I don't have the "bag" to question him face to face, yesterday I would have but I couldn't find him early at practice. Then I watched practice, talked to Reggie Hunt and went home to cool off. Today? Will I question him? Maybe. But I'm not going out of my way to do it. I really don't care enough.

So have you heard that the 1966 Grey Cup Championship team is in town this week? Lots of people don't know where and when they will be anywhere. Here is what I know. On Thursday between noon and one Ron Lancaster and Al Ford will be at the Scarth Street Mall downtown for the "Wear your Green Day" event. So dress up in Rider colours and come on out. I will be going all out in full costume for it. Look for me and say hi. And on Thursday night the '66 team will be at Casino Regina from 6:00 until 7:00 signing autographs. I believe they are golfing in the alumni tournament on Friday. Saturday they are at the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame from 12:30 until 2:00 signing autographs, the Grey Cup will be there to and pictures with it are $5. The the '66 team will be at the practice field from 3:00 until 4:30 signing again. So there you have an itinerary to plan your autograph hunting around. Get out and show these guys how much they mean to the fans. And by the way, they will be at the game Saturday. If you buy a ticket you can be part of a very special day.

Happy Birthday Canada!!! It's a beautymous(credit Phil) day for the celebrations in Wascana Park. I can't wait to get down there.

First though I have to track down a lawn mower. My trusty electric died yesterday after 4 years of intermittent service. I bandaided that thing every second week. It finally got to the point that I had to wear leather gloves to keep from getting shocked while using it. So it was just a matter of time before it croaked on me. And it died in the middle of my backyard. It looks like I planned on putting a mohawk in the lawn, which is kinda cool. We did the price checking for a new mower yesterday and the damn things aint cheap. I've got a used mower place to check out this morning and if he aint cheaper then it's off to Canadian Tire.

But back to Canada Day. Two bands that I'm looking forward to seeing are playing today. Jack Semple plays at 3:00 or 3:30 at the main stage. If you haven't seen him make sure you do today. Incedible blues/jazz player. And a local boy to boot. And then make sure to check out The Northern Pikes right before the fireworks show. I'm pretty sure they hit the stage at 9:00. They were a fun show in Edmonton after the Rider game last year and I've never been disappointed at one of their shows. "She aint pretty" always gets the crowd going. "Kiss me you fool","Teenland","Girl with a problem", and "Things I do for money" are also fantastic tunes. If you make it down to the park I should be easy to find. As always I will be putting the RED hair dye in for the day.

And if you have kids who ride their bikes on the street make sure you keep telling them not to ride in and out of parked cars. We almost hit a little one yesterday. And we had slowed down because we knew there were kids on that block. If it would have been somebody who didn't know the neighbourhood the kid would be in the hospital or worse. Thanks for reading.