One Down – Eight to Go
It’s one of nature’s most grand sights. Each Labour weekend the zombie hordes come to Regina from their nesting grounds in Winnipeg to experience flush toilets and moan for their Winnipeg Blue Bombers. After the game, they are surprised by gifts donated from Saskatchewan seniors of old used dentures so the zombie hordes would be able to eat a cooked meal. Kindly Rider fans are often seen opening a beer before handing it to a Bomber fan because they are not known for hand-eye coordination.
This year was no exception as the Riders took advantage of changes from Cory Chamblin and Brendan Taman’s firing and rallied under new coach Bob Dyce and GM Jeremy O’Day for a 37-19 win over the Bomber zombie hordes.
It was an extraordinary week in Riderville where public anger built after the Riders debacle in Ottawa including the benching of quarterback Brett Smith, really built on Monday and culminated Monday night with news that not just Chamblin, but Taman had lost their jobs. Chamblin was let go because not only was he losing, he was alienating fans, many of whom considered the 35-12 loss to Ottawa to be the last straw as Tino Sunseri gave his best deer in the headlights impersonation.
Taman was a little more surprising but understandable because someone had to stand up for the team and tell Chamblin that his defensive signal calling was hurting the team and he should have turned the reins over to Greg Quick. In addition, the Riders player management had the team scrapping the ceiling of the salary cap and not leaving money to keep young Canadians in the roster and not moving on to other teams.