Our Long National Nightmare is Over

The prospect of the Bombers moving into dynasty status on the Rider field resulted in thousands of fans putting their seats up for resale. Add to that that a week before the Grey Cup for the Canadian Bowl, it was -13 C and bitterly cold, leading to projections that it would be just as cold, if not more so, for the Grey Cup.

Then the CFL got lucky despite itself. While Randy Ambrosie tries to make himself into the owners commissioner, or the Canadian equivalent of Gary Betman, NHL Commissioner, who seems willing to take guff from the fans as long as he can do the owners bidding, the fans manage to salvage the Grey Cup either through the festival or at the game.

Ambrosie’s fan address was cut short as he managed to take advantage of technical problems to shorten the session. I never got a chance to ask Ambrosie just how many people actually stream the CFL outside of North America. Ambrosie brought in the Global program to grow the CFL profile internationally, much like the Ponzi scheme that is Major League Soccer in North America.

Other than Canadian kickers losing jobs, there hasn’t been much of the Global program worth talking about and if the numbers indicate only Riders fans working abroad are streaming the games, then maybe Ambrosie should change his focus to getting some team into the Maritimes.

Ambrosie also drove a stake through the heart of the CFL week concept, which was a week to hold the combine, expose the new and established stars of the CFL and add in some family friendly stuff for kids. Instead it seems like Ambrosie is borrowing the NFL concept of international games with presumably regular season games played in Laval, Maritimes, Okanagan and other places.

Ambrosie though did not do himself or the league any favors with turning the Harvard lounge into the Commissioner’s lounge. For those who don’t know, the Harvard lounge is on the main concourse, open to all fans and let’s people warm up and get a drink and some food as well. Except if you were not a sponsor or overpaid for a package, and were hoping to warm up before or during the game, you were out of luck.

The game was fortunate for fans and the league as the weather was around zero, a bit of swirling wind but nothing you couldn’t handle if dressed appropriately. There were a number of empty seats for a number of reasons – the Riders weren’t in it, no one wanted to see Bomber fans win in our stadium, too cold, blah, blah,

The cost of the Grey Cup now is taking the game away from working class fans and leaving in the hands of moneyed poseurs who have no emotional stake in the game. I love football because it is a great communal experience – you can wear Rider colors across the world and either run into another Rider fan or someone who knows the logo.

At this Grey Cup I met people I had only met on social media and it was great to puts names to the faces and talk football. While we are all to some extent partisan fans of our teams, we also see that we need a strong league in order to enjoy these games, introduce people to them, and share them with others.

The best thing about Grey Cup week is meeting fans from across the league and broadening your understanding of the country and the league. COVID has thrown a spanner in the works by keeping people at home and Ambrosie does not help by shutting down vehicles for exposure like CFL Week.

So once we got past the surprise of the Harvard lounge being barred to fans, the game was interesting. The first half was interesting with teams moving against the wind seeming to do better than teams who had the ball with the wind. Brady Olivera of the Bombers looked strong running the ball, but Toronto looked like it was not intimidated by the Bombers like the Riders seem to be.

McBeth Bethel Thompson started off ok with a short to medium passing game, designed to get the ball out of his hands quickly. Andrew Harris was hyped to start to game but other than the first quarter, was not much of a factor.

After the teams stumbled in the first half, the second half was more entertaining and featured both starting quarterbacks, Zach Collaros of Winnipeg and Thompson going out with injuries. Thompson left with a dislocated thumb and was replaced by Chad Kelly, nephew of former Buffalo Bills legendary QB Jim Kelly.

Kelly made faster reads, got the ball to his receivers quicker and was able to run effectively. Winnipeg did not have much film on him and the moment of hesitation you could see on the Bomber defenders was enough time for Kelly to move the Bombers into a one point lead with about a minute and a half left.

Toronto almost won the game earlier than what it did when it seemed to have stopped Collaros, who had just tossed an interception on an earlier series and seemed to have been tackled behind the line of scrimmage on a third down gamble. However, a face masking penalty kept the Winnipeg drive alive when they got into position for a field goal.

I was watching from Pil Country along with a couple of Bomber fans and one Bomber fan said he had no faith in their kicker. So let’s consider how getting international kickers with no experience would make the CFL better – in the last minute there were two blocked field goals, including the final one which for Winnipeg fans may end up to be their 13^th Man moment where the Riders in 2009 on the final play on a missed field goal.

The result was a memorable game, no arrests, and it is unclear whether the CFL realizes how lucky they are to be bailed out by the game and the fans yet again.

So this week the Riders will interview Rider running back coach Kelly Jeffrey, Calgary Stampeder quarterback Coach Marc Mueller. and Hamilton offensive consultant Khari Jones. If the Riders want any shot of landing Bo Levi Mitchell, the former Stampeder quarterback, they need to land Mueller, the former quarterback of the U of R Rams and grandson of Ron Lancaster.

The problem is the GM, Jeremy O’Day, and head coach Craig Dickinson, are in the last year of their contracts and if they cannot turn the 6-12 Riders around, they will out of jobs next year and Mueller is being asked to go from a stable situation in Calgary to one where he could be looking for a new job next year.

For that reason, I expect the next offensive coordinator to be either Jeffrey or former Ottawa head coach Paul La Police. The interesting thing is that even if the Riders get a new offensive coordinator, and who knows, even a quarterback, none of that matters without a competent offensive line coach to keep the quarterback upright.

Let’s be honest, the Riders need an attitude change and if they continue to self destruct, let’s assume that next year, there is a new GM and CEO to go along with a new coach. In the meantime, enjoy the memory of the Bombers losing in Mosaic and let’s have fun figuring out who the hell the Riders are going to be next year. After all, Toronto showed that Winnipeg can be beat!