It wasn't pretty but it was worth 2 points. The D stepped up huge and made a statement. No TDs given up is always a great game. These guys are ready for the playoffs. But damn I'm not sold on the O. One TD will not get us to the western final. I had a bad feeling about the O this week just because Joseph had such a good week of practice. It seems to be his pattern, play well in practice and not so well come gametime. Yeah I know Toronto has a good secondary but if we want to play in Winnipeg our O had to play well against the good teams. And last night they didn't. I haven't read Barrett's post game interviews yet but he probably said that Joseph played well. He didn't. But we still got the W. Now we prepare for Edmonton and I hope a lot better offense shows up Friday. And better special teams tackling too because it wasn't good last night at all. Luca had to be in on at least 2 tackles and that's not a good thing. A kicker should never have to make a tackle expecially when we only have one on the roster.

The riderfans.com steak night was a blast. Chaps managed to sell it out and make a bit of cash to keep the site running. And it was JJ's birthday too. I may have gotten a little bit drunk to say the least. And after the game a bunch of us headed over to The Drink for a few more drinks. Tequila is bad for you!!! If you haven't checked out The Drink yet try and make it there to watch the Rider game on Friday. Here is Hillbilly's post about what the bar is doing.

"I'm Playing at the Drink Next Thursday, Fri, Sat. Talked with the owners of the club about making it a Rider Fan friendly zone.......

So what they've come up with is this...... For $10. You get in for free for the evening.....A Steak Sandwich, a Beer/bar shot....And you get to watch the game in HD on one of 5 T.V.s ( as well as 2 big projection screens) After the game is over Some long haired Rider Fanatic is going to be hitting the stage and Belting out tunes.

If you choose to hang around after the game for my show, the bar will buy you a beer/shot.....To keep the party going."

If I wasn't making the trip to Edmonton I would defiantly be there. The club is nicely laid out and the TV's are great. And JJ puts on a great show. And if you do make it out to watch the game remember to have a shot every time they show me on TV. Last year in Edmonton I made 8 appearances so the odds of getting drunk are pretty good.

Anyway thanks for reading. And stay away from tequila.

Gameday number 17 today. And thank god it's a game that doesn't matter much. We can't move up or down in the playoff rankings. We are going to Calgary for our first playoff game. Yeah I said our first!!! I expect this team to have three playoff games this year. And hopefully I will see two of those games live. For sure I'm going to Calgary for the semi final. No way I can afford to see the western final live but after we win it I'll figure out a way to get to Winnipeg. Anybody want to donate to my Grey Cup fund?

I reported earlier this week that a player was at practice all week and wasn't wearing a uniform. I figure that 4 1/2 hours before the game is a good time to reveal which player that was. That and the fact that nobody reads this thing so it should be safe. The player who didn't dress or participate in practice this week was Fred Perry. Is he playing tonight? I have no idea. Did the coaches just rest him to heal up some dings? Your guess is as good or better than mine. I'm just reporting what I saw and not reading anything into it at all. My guess is that he plays because he wants the sack title and he wasn't obviously in pain walking around at practice.

Tonight is the riderfans.com steak night at Brewsters east. Chaps put 50 tickets on sale and it sold out. Should be a very good time. And all profits go to support the website. If you want to support riderfans.com here is a link to how Riderfans I know that at time the site is a total gongshow but if you sift through the bullshit there are lots of good informed opinions to be found. And hey even the idiots are good for comic relief sometimes. I just have to decide if I'm wearing the mohawk to the steak night or not. Probably not but stranger things have happened.

Anyway that's about all I wanted to write today except for my prediction on the score tonight. 37-22 Riders. Thanks for reading

Well that game was worth the money and then some. The D kicked ass!!! And man Matt D made one hell of a catch right in front of us. A defender all over him and the ball underthrown and he went up and got it. He is a super tough receiver and a real go to guy. OK he did fumble later but damn it that catch was a thing of beauty. And Fantuz is phenominal. His TD catch was low and underthrown but he went down and got it. And again it was almost right in front of me. I love my seats!!

It's the night before the last home game of the year. And I think I'm finally getting hyped. All week I was in a funk after seeing that debacle on Monday. But tonight I had to get my costume together and I realised that after tomorrow there are probably no more home games this year. So screw it I'm going to be loud and proud and make Taylor Field a bad place for Montreal. The team only had one real practice and a closed walkthrough this week. I think that the lack of practice could actually help. No overthinking anything, no overcoaching, just put on the pads and play. Tomorrow we find out who wants the playoffs and who just wants the game cheque. I know that Scott Schultz will step up after that Bob Hughes article this week. Hughes sucks in my opinion and always has.

Anyway thanks for reading and if you don't have a ticket buy one and shiver with the rest of us.

Well the weekend started off great. The Stones were incredible. If you didn't go then you missed out bigtime. I personally preferred the seats that I had on Friday way up high. It seemed like the people in the "cheap seats" got into the show more. Sunday I was on the field and it seemed like they were more subdued. I wasn't. On my feet for the whole Stones show. They kicked ass. "Tumblin' Dice" is amazing live. Ans Sympathy for The Devil just plain blew me away both nights. Easily my favourite Stones song and the show that went with it was incredible. Very much worth the money.

The Riders performance on Monday wasn't worth the electricity I used to turn on the TV. Brutal is a kind word to describe it. The knee jerk reaction would be to rush Crandell back and hope. But that would be wrong. Resting Joseph right now won't accomplish anything. He needs more time than we have. Play him now and pray. And when Marcus is 100% he should start. We need a healthy QB for the playoff run and he's the only hope we have of having one. And in the offseason it wouldn't break my heart if we shopped Joseph and Armstead. Joseph is a bandaid and Armstead is below average. He's fast but doesn't make the plays. And Johnson has to step it up. He looks like he's playing scared. He gives those huge cushions and relies on his closing speed and it isn't working. Even in practice he's backing up when the ball is snapped. Get tough dammit!! And for the first time this year I'm saying that Reggie Hunt totally blew a play and it hurt us. I'm a huge Reaper fan but it was his man that got through and blocked that punt. But it was game 15 before he blew a play that hurt us. Some of these guys do it every game. I know Reggie will bounce back and have a huge game because he's too good not to. He has pride in his abilities, I just wish that pride was contagious.

Anyway thanks for reading.

Friday night's show was incredible. Not much more I can say. If you were there you know what I'm talking about. And if you weren't I hope you are going Sunday. This was a concert that surpassed the hype. And there was a lot of hype. I am going again on Sunday but this time I'm field level so it should be a totally different perspective. I'll post about which location I liked better on Monday because no way I will be on here after the show.

Two quick things today.

The Stones are 3 hours away from taking the stage in Regina tonight. And I am so hyped. Man it's going to be great. Tomorrow 'll post some impressions of the show.

Second thing is thin skinned GMs. Eric Tillman ventured into Riderville this week. And he didn't enjoy his stay. Check out Rod Pedersen's blog for details of his side of the story http://rodpedersen.blogspot.com/ It's down the page a bit under "ET is steamed". Eric didn't follow the first rule of Riderville, what happens on Riderville stays on Riderville. I'm going to ask permission to post the remarks leading up to his remarks so the public can get context. Probably won't be allowed to so I'll just say he over reacted big time. But he has the ear of the media and his side of course gets out first. So far he has come across as a whiner. The Davis article right after he was hired that critised him wasn't that bad but all of a sudden these people from all over are emailing their support to the LP. How did they find out about the article? I can picture Eric calling them up and saying "Help me the big bad reporter is picking on me." If he doesn't grow a thicker skin he won't last here. Sorry man nothing that has been said about Eric has even come close to the piles of crap thrown at Shivers and he handled it.

Anyway it's time to crack a beer and crank some Stones and get primed for the concert. Thanks for reading.

OK just one more day to get through and then the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band will be in Regina. Yeah baby it's almost time for The Rolling Stones. And I'm going. Both nights. I got my ticket for Sunday the day they went on sale and paid full price. And I don't regret it at all. And today the wife and I picked up 2 tickets for the Friday show for $100, $50 per ticket. And that aint bad. Friday we are up in section 202 and Sunday I'm field level. So two very different views of the show. I am so hyped for this weekend. I'll try and get some pics of the stage and stuff tomorrow and post them here.

What am I? Cursed? I spent all last week being very impressed with Kerry Joseph and of course he gets hurt again. I was cheering for him this game because he looked fantastic at practice. Those hints of greatness that he was teasing us with looked like they were finally going to be seen for a whole game. And he did play pretty well except for those stupid throws that got intercepted. Bad throws, take the sack, don't try to win the game by yourself. When Joseph sits back and lets the play happen he is good. When he tries to force something he isn't. I hope he gets healthy before they force him back into the lineup. Because a 70% Kerry Joseph just isn't good enough to take us very far. We need Crandell back soon but it sounds like he won't be there for this game at least. But I really can't point fingers on this loss. Sometimes the team you love just doesn't win. It happens. If Joseph would have played the whole game we probably win or not. But it would have been a little bit different and Kenton Keith wouldn't have become the forgotten man at the end. They went away from what was working and it cost them. Oh well.

I have to thank Donald Narcisse for coming over and getting his picture taken with me in my full costume. And signing the picture of us when I wasn't in the costume. He is a great guy.

Thanks for reading.