Mama, Don’t Take Your Kids to Winnipeg!

OK, the Banjo Bowl was last weekend and I have already talked about how Chris Jones’ living on the edge coaching philosophy cuts both ways.

What emerged a day later was something I think is worth addressing, without getting all the way up on my high horse before previewing this weeks’ games.

A mother took her nine-yea- old son to the Banjo Bowl and made a fundamental mistake.

While the kid wore a Bomber t-shirt, a mistake was made by wearing a green Billibong Kangaroo (they call it a hoodie in Winnipeg, but this is a Saskatchewan column) which is not even close to Rider green.

The result was the kid was yelled at, told to go back where he belonged (the kid was from Winnipeg) and had a beer poured over his head. Apparently some Rider fans stepped in to help the mother and kid move to safety, and the question was raised whose fans are worse.

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Now I know a Bomber fan in Saskatoon who hates Regina with a passion after attending a Labour Day game and having a melon thrown at his son wearing a Bomber jersey. I’ve been to Winnipeg for a game or two, been at all western CFL stadiums and the old Skydome and Ivor Wynne Stadium and the worst that I have experienced are a couple of mouthy Calgary fans.

Ironically or not, this happened during the infamous 2009 Grey Cup and beside me was a young boy and his father. The boy was taking in his first Grey Cup and wondering who to cheer for. I told him about the Riders and while he was a Calgary fan, he experienced the fun my fellow Rider fans and I provided (I think giving him Rider thundersticks helped).

My rule of thumb is I could care less about what some idiot in Calgary or toothless dolt in Winnipeg has to say to me about the Riders. I have two Grey Cup rings and Winnipeg fans have jack, but where I draw the line is where kids of any age feel intimidated in a stadium full of boozing football fans.

For instance, while I went the extra mile to represent the Rider Nation to this young fan, I ignored the idiots until after Montreal  won the game, then I turned around and shook their hands and thanked them for a memorable Grey Cup. The expression on their face was priceless because I imagine they thought I was going to start a fight, but I refused to lower myself to their level.

Now, if anyone has watched a game with me, live or watching on TV, should know I am loud and profane. But I am also entertaining, which I can’t help and it helps me to shock people in Toronto when I show up for a Grey Cup or two. They can’t imagine someone calling the Ref a communist for some stupid call.

While I find hockey games are filled with abusive fans, particularly towards fans wearing opposing jerseys, all I can do is control my own actions as a fan. If I see kids getting abused, even by Rider fans, I feel obligated to step in and I would hope others would do so when a kid is clearly scared by a bunch of drunks.

And hey, if you can’t handle getting drunk at the game and being a happy drunk, why not stay at home and spare the rest of us?

This doesn’t mean I have changed my opinion on Winnipeg best being razed to the ground and sown with salt so nothing can ever grow there again.

After all, I have two more Grey Cup rings than Milt Stegal.

So this week (it’s Wednesday as I write this) has been a strange one with the Riders cutting the fat Nazi organic farmer known as Khalief Mitchell who used to be a pretty good defensive lineman until apparently poutine and a fascination with a Jewish conspiracy lead him astray. The Riders bringing in this person of questionable thinking has been a low point, in my mind lower than the fines for playing with the rules for practice squad players.

I saw Mitchell at one practice and to be honest, I had a better chance of making the Riders than he did. The Riders are apparently waiting for the expansion of rosters to accommodate the NFL players who were cut and apparently didn’t make the NFL practice rosters.

Then Winnipeg, Canada’s Crime Capital(!) pulls off a great fleecing with dumping Drew Willy on Toronto in exchange for the Argos first and third pick and defensive back TJ Heath who is a co-leader in interceptions. Then Winnipeg trades a fourth round pick to Montreal for Kevin Glenn, who was apparently benched by Jim (I have no clue) Popp in exchange for Raheem (Green Hornet has nothing on me!) Cato becoming the new starter.

Then Cato, who to be fair comes from a tough background, has a fight with some receivers who he felt were not giving him the respect he deserved.  However this is apparently not the end of it.

According to media reports, Montreal is $300,000 over the salary cap limit and have about eight weeks to fix the problem or they lose a first and second round pick. Seeing how they traded a 2017 first round to BC for the amazing Vernon Adams Jr., that likely means they lose their 2018 first round pick and 2017 second round pick.

Since its’ after Labour Day, those veteran contracts will be guaranteed and cutting the players will not reduce the problem because Montreal is still on the book for the contracts. I would expect western teams to be lining up and I think Duron Carter could be had despite his $250,000 contract.

So with all this turmoil in Montreal, they have Hamilton coming into town  and Hamilton is coming off an epic meltdown to Dan LeFevour who couldn’t crack an invitation to the Riders camp, but got a chance in Tampa Bay before hooking up with Toronto.

This makes me wonder if Hamilton has the mental toughness to make it far in the playoffs. The Masoli experiment was more of a placeholder thing, but it made Hamilton look like a streaky team, which is fine when you are on a streak, but when you turn the ball over and are getting your ass handed to you, does not work out all too well.

A snap judgement, and I just saw a photo on Twitter of Cato sitting far away from his receivers following the Als morning practice, is that Montreal is self destructing and will continue to do so in spectacular fashion, particularly as they try to get under the salary cap. For a streaky Hamilton team, a Montreal dumpster fire is just what the doctor ordered – Hamilton 29-24 (it’s a little close because Hamilton should have blown Toronto out and failed so the possibility is there to screw this up as well).

Then we have Drew Willy and the Toronto Argonauts visiting Winnipeg. Well, I would expect LeFevour to start the game, but LeFevour will have to contend with Heath who knows their offense since he practiced against them every day.

Ricky Ray has a deflated lung, so he may be back this season, but LeFevour is the short term while Willy is apparently the future. If LeFevour has a strong game, it would make it tough for Willy to crack the roster, except in garbage time and Willy excells in garbage time.

Winnipeg made some good trades, dumping a potential $400 K contract for a backup quarterback in exchange for draft picks and a stud at defensive back. Then getting Glenn provides some security for when Matt Nicholls wakes up and its midnight and his coach has turned into a pumpkin.

Winnipeg has benefitted from a favorable schedule and how the Riders managed to drop two games is something historians will ponder over sherry and cigars for years to come. This is Winnipeg’s last gift game before hitting the class of the west in Calgary and BC and an Edmonton team that will be hard pressed to cross over.

Enjoy this one Winnipeg – 26-22.

Ottawa goes to Calgary and it’s a repeat of the tie game which was pretty good, except for both teams playing like drunken Bomber fans in overtime. Trevor Harris was given the keys to the Redblack offense and he had better produce or Henry Burris will likely start to kneel during the national anthem to protest being held back as a legendary quarterback.

Calgary on the other hand had a bruising game against Deadmonton but managed to sweep the Schmoes and keep a death grip on first place despite one of their players being busted for violating drug testing.

Ottawa stacks up fine against Calgary and this should be an interesting game. Only a fool or someone trailing badly in their CFL pool would pick a tie, but since the game is in Calgary, Stampeders win 28-23.

Finally we come to the game of the week, the Schmoes from Deadmonton crawl to the city that rhymes with fun and wonder why this game was not being played in Deadmonton because Chris Jones needs to be punished for finding something better than the Schmo Way.

The problem with that is the Riders actually played the Schmoes pretty good in Deadmonton and in a more just world would have had at least a split if not a sweep. Chris Jones may have based his coaching philosophy on his mentor Don Matthews “Playing on the Edge” but having suffered through Matthews during his stint in Saskatchewan, I can attest that sometimes when you play on the edge, you drive off a cliff.

So while I hold out the hope that Jones is learning from this character building experience (11 years of being a season ticket holder while watching a team finish out of the playoffs did wonders for my character), the ever decreasing number of roster moves from game to game is slowing down and the players on the field are learning to play together.

I like the Riders to repay Deadmonton for the hospitality they showed and win on Sunday. Whether I would wager a good bottle of scotch on it is something else, but the Riders have been improving steadily and if not for some questionable coaching calls, could easily have a few more wins and be threatening with Edmonton for a crossover.

The Schmoes signed Philip Hunt, who was a heat seeking missile with BC on the defensive line and Troy Stoudamire, an ace return artists since the bozo they had on their roster tended to fumble the ball at the slightest smell of a hot dog. However Stoudamire also has his problems holding on to the ball.

This should be a fun game and just for the heck of it, Riders 31-24 over Deadmonton because even a blind pig finds an acorn now and them.