Winnipeg Sucks
There I was in my Rasta-hat with attached dreadlocks, wearing my number 12 Rider game worn away jersey Darian Bell (back up 2009), walking into a place that for the Riders has been pure evil… Winnipeg and to a smaller extent, Investors Field.
The odds were against the Riders, especially after receiver Taj Smith got busted in a Quebec strip club which was a violation of his bail conditions. Smith was benched, which meant the Riders offense would take one step back and attempt to find strength in other moving parts.
People have been slagging the Rider offense, but there is a serious difference between being at the game and watching it on TV. For example, the Riders screwed up, or planned their pre-game entrance so that they came out when the Bombers did. The Riders said no one told them when to go on so the timing was accidental. But it looked like the Riders were throwing down the gauntlet despite claiming that no one had told them when to go on, which considering we were watching the Riders, is probably true.
Winnipeg’s offense is refined by Gary Etcheverry, who masterminded a couple of defenses here that managed to severely confuse opposing teams. His teams don’t line up the way you expect, and they don’t perform the way you expect them to once they are lined up. The game between Etcheverry and George Cortez, Rider offensive coach, was shaping up to be the most intriguing chess match of the year.