All Ready for the 2016 Season?

I waited until today and the news that Kevin Glenn is on the six game injured list with a torn pectoral muscle and the Riders have signed former Argo and University of Alabama Crimson Tide QB Blake Simms.

 As a Rider owner with two ownership shares and two Grey Cup rings to go with it (nothing beats going to the city that God forgot – Winnipeg – and flashing a Grey Cup ring to remind the inmates what winning looks like) and having gone to Rider games as either a season ticket holder or reporter since 1976, I am fortunate to have experienced Owen (As in O and five) starts including the classic 0-12 start in 1979. That was a Rider team that had gotten old fast, wasn’t replaced in a timely matter until Ron Lancaster had to blow it up and build it up from scratch.

This is a little different.

The announcement that Glenn was going on the six game injury list was taken by my old PA buddy Rod Pedersen, voice of the Riders, as meaning that Cory Chamblin’s job is secure. Pedersen had written this week that Chamblin should give up the defensive coordinator position to concentrate on being a head coach. Chamblin was a mediocre defensive coordinator in Hamilton, and his inability to scheme has cost this team probably two and maybe three potential victories. Maybe it doesn’t matter firing Chamblin because it seems nothing now will make a difference.

 For the Rider fans, the feeling is that the season is over, and this is the time to audition players to see who to invite to next year’s camp and to see who can play professional football at this level.

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With the Riders going into Edmonton with a rookie quarterback and having as his backup someone still suffering PTSD from last season in Tino Sunseri (I shouldn’t whine too much, I did pick up his old practice jersey from last season at the Rider locker room sale as an ironic joke) with Keith Price as the third QB and Simms now coming in, I give the Riders a quarter at best on Friday.

 As an old defensive coordinator and head coach, I would blitz the Riders until they had Paul McCallum at QB. 32 to 3 for Deadmonton over Winnipeg flattered the Blubonic Plague, as a Rider fan, I would only wonder where the Riders get three points from. But, I would hope the Riders do not use this as an excuse not to make changes.

Chamblin is no Chris Jones and should give the call back to Greg Quick and look after the overall team. If he doesn’t do that, then let him go after the season. If no changes are made, attendance will go down the last half of the season and the Riders have already played four home games and lost them all. This is not a good sign when you are looking at a new stadium.

What I remember most about 1979 was stopping at the Officers’ Mess or USI with my father, loading up our thermoses with beer or mixed drinks, and then drinking on the upper level and enjoying the good humor of die-hard Rider fans. On our way up the ramps to our seats I remember passing by the press box and we would talk about how cool it would be to sit there and listen to informative football talk.

Then after Rider Pride day in 1979 and the fan reaction to possibly losing our team if fans didn’t show up, we talked about how unlikely but how wonderful it would be if the Riders could host a Grey Cup and maybe even win it at home. In 2001 my father was diagnosed with anaplastic cancer of the thyroid and in the middle of July 2001 I called Tony Plater of the Riders and asked him for a press box seat for him and myself.

 Tony reminded me of the no cheering in the press box rule and I told him that with a trach, my Dad wasn’t doing much loud cheering. On that day we sat in the press box and watched the Riders win a rare game over Hamilton and I introduced my Dad to Ron Lancaster. It was my Dads last game at Taylor Field with him passing away on July 31. To realize the second dream, I had to wait until 2013.  So I have seen it before and the difference is that there is a mechanism in place that will not accept the current situation as the status quo. It will be fascinating to watch this team through the rest of the season, and for all those who wondered about the value of Darian Durant, I think they have their answer.

So after going 4-0, I feel the heat to continue to try to make sense of this interesting season. Starting on Friday, BC goes into Winnipeg where Drew (Free) Willy will be returning to action after going down against Deadmonton with a knee injury. Considering who the Bombers have backing him up, either they are fortunate he is in good shape, or they are rushing him in a desperate attempt to remain relevant in the west. I guess if Rider fans are going to sit this season out of the playoffs, we would love to see Winnipeg sitting there with us. BC should have beaten Toronto but BC made a bonehead coaching decision, reminding me that Jeff Tedford wasn’t all that effective in the CFL as a player. It’s funny to recall that last year at a function called Pros and Joes that the Riders put on for prostate cancer, Rider GM asked me if there was one player in the CFL I would trade for that I felt the Riders needed, who would it be? I said Solomon Eliminion and for my answer in a room full of season ticket holders, got my name on a CFL contract that I have framed on my wall. It is with that in mind that BC’s linebacking corps is better than Winnipeg’s offense and I see the Lions emerging from the swamps of Winnipeg with a 28-25 win and a bad case of dysentery.

On Friday the Riders go to Deadmonton.  Not since Joan of Arc was tied to the stake has there been such a conceivably one sided contest. As noted earlier, Chris Jones will blitz every play, he will pass blitz and he will run blitz and dare the Riders to beat him. The Riders don’t have a triggerman in which I have particular confidence, unless this beginner Santeria course will pay off and a swarm of locusts will bombard the Schmo bench like the sinners they are. I wouldn’t be surprised at a shut out, but on the other hand, Sunseri does better coming off the bench and Deadmonton should win, maybe not as easily as they expect 30-21.

Montreal goes to Calgary and this game gets really interesting to figure out. Calgary went down against Ottawa because in a foreign land, the surroundings were not that conducive to inexperienced offensive linemen getting their calls.  The Stumps are back in the bunkhouse but they left Cornish back at TD bank asking customers if they would be interested in trying the new no fees account for a six game injury stint. That shouldn’t stop the Stumps from running, maybe not as effectively as they did before and Bo Levi will be going to the air to where his strengths are. But the Als under Noel Thorpe have a very good defense that can create pressure and negate the passing abilities of Bo Levi. The Stumps are just as injury hit as the Riders, and the Als win this one in a welcome surprise 23-19.

Toronto at Hamilton – the good burghers of southern Ontario should be overjoyed at the prospect of the return of professional football with this classic grudge match. In terms of surprises to this western observer, Toronto has to rank as among the biggest so far this season. They are young and green, but for the most part they have played with verve and dash – I knew that creative English class would come in handy one day. Hamilton is coming off the crippling of the Riders and if Toronto was hoping to come off their six game road trip with a 500 record, well congrats, that is a pretty impressive mark by any standard and a 26-25 Hamilton win should not spoil the start to the TO season. Here in football central, we would kill for a 500 mark right about now.

So my reliance on Kevin Glenn leading the CFL in passing has impacted my fantasy team so I am moving to Travis Lulay to bomb Loserpeg; Shakir Bell to do what all CFL backs have done against Saskatchewan – run for 100 yards; Hazelton to be my dark horse receiver in TO’s offense; Bakiri Grant to underwhelm me in Hamilton; Banks to again underwhelm me at flex; Paul McCallum at kicker because hey, if the Riders do score, it will only be due to McCallum; and Edmonton’s defense and special teams to wrap things up in a bow, or coffin depending on your point of view.

Have fun this holiday weekend!