Riders look like Dead Men Walking in Loss – Riderville to Calgary

Another interesting point was raised that the Riders need to hire a specific quarterback coach to work with the young quarterbacks. This coach would look at everything from footwork, to arm release and how to make proper reads.

Then on Tuesday fans were greeted by the spectacle of Trevor Harris out on the practice field. Harris was wearing a green t-shirt, black shorts and leggings, was walking without a limp. Harris stood behind quarterback Jake Dolegala, watching what he was doing (it’s called mental reps) and then throwing a ball to an open receiver. Harris came out again on Wednesday and did the same thing, threw the ball around with the other quarterbacks and went back into the locker room. Thursday’s practice is closed so if Harris is actually going to play on Saturday against the Toronto Argonauts, which is a must win for the Riders, although we will discuss that for a bit later on, he will likely have a chance to take the offense for a spin on Thursday without anyone from the Argos scouting staff in attendance.

While it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Saturday will be Dickenson’s last game unless the Riders bumble their way into the playoffs, it is not readily apparent the Riders will move on their GM Jeremy O’Day and CEO Craig Reynolds. Sentiment seems to be split on O’Day, noting he has brought in talent, but perhaps not sufficient talent along the offensive line which has been the Achilles Heel of this team for the last three seasons. While O’Day could be criticized for hiring Dickenson, the circumstances is after Chris Jones extended the contracts of his assistant coaches, he left for Cleveland but left the Riders in an awkward situation trying to fill the head coach vacancy while trying to stay under the salary management system set in place for football operations dealing with coaches.

Dickenson was the game manager for Jones when he was here so his inability to manage the game clock as the head coach is an example of someone who can does this job, but when the spotlight is on him, finds it a different experience.

The Riders inability to block, first for Zach Collaros, then Cody Fajardo and now for Trevor Harris and those who follow, is a major reason why the Rider offense is so ineffective. O’Day has been hampered by some draft picks choosing to retire, and the COVID gap played a major role in that as players given a choice between a job in the field they studied in or the unknown fate of being a football player missing a year because of COVID went with the guaranteed cheque.

Then again there is the issue of injuries. The Riders have been snakebit these last few years with injuries and reasons varied from players not being in condition to bad luck.

After the Calgary game here, I went on the field to pose for pictures with my cousin and I noticed the turf was not tight but had bumps on it that would make it easy to trip over it if you were running at full speed and not looking at the ground. An equipment manager pointed me to the cause – the hockey rink the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) places on the field for skating during the winter, anything for a buck eh? The problem comes when the ice in the rink melts, goes into the field and creates warps in the turf that result in what the injury lists call – lower body injuries.

The turf at Mosaic is rated for 10 years and we are at year 8, so maybe, if the Exhibition Association is bound and determined to gouge people for money by offering a skating rink in the stadium, could maybe replace the artificial turf with real grass. The Riders and REAL could both benefit because water from a rink melting into grass is not a big deal and will not warp the grass as it does the artificial turf. The argument for turf was it provides REAL with opportunities to host other events, but while REAL has last hosted a concert uh, that would be Garth Brooks, they have failed to attract another concert, or even a soccer game since soccer prefers their players play on real grass. If REAL works with the University of Saskatchewan to develop a breed of grass that can hold up for not just the Riders, but also the University of Regina Rams, the Regina Thunder, Regina Riot (women’s football), and high school games, that works to build connections to Saskatoon and build the premise this is a provincial team.

If there is ever another concert at Mosaic, then REAL can cover the field with the plastic squares they place on the field now if and when they host a concert. Craig Reynolds future as CEO is also being discussed by fans.

The Riders added insult to injury to fans by having their increases come out the week after they soiled the bed in front of the George Reed family and the 2013 Grey Cup team being honored.

I cannot understate the level of anger felt by fans over the Rider performance against Hamilton.

Combined with the Riders folding in the second half against Calgary, people are in a mood not to renew their season tickets. For out of town fans, the increased costs of coming to games, combined with the high merchandize and concession prices for watching a not entertaining product, begs the question of whether their disposable income can go somewhere with a better return on investment.

The Riders seems to have shifted their focus to high end spenders which is forcing the working fans to consider perhaps switching to going to a game to game basis instead of season tickets for future tickets.

The latest move came with how the Riders made their residential school survivor practice jerseys available to fans. Last year I bid on and somehow won two orange jerseys from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I went on the website, saw the jerseys available, and bid. I outsmarted myself and bid on two because I thought the odds of me winning both were negligible, so I got two, one of which went to Bomber fan James Kennedy who I go to games with.

The Riders were offering raffle tickets which cost 5 tickets for $20, 25 tickets for $50, 100 tickets for $100 and 500 tickets for $250. I went for $100 because I wanted to get a jersey for the son of a friend of mine.

They had the draw on October 10 and I checked the site on October 12 and discovered that one person had won six jerseys, another won five jerseys. One person won three jerseys, two people won two apiece.

So out of 50 jerseys available, five people won 18 of them, or 36 percent of the jerseys available.

So my experience last year with the Rider orange jersey raffle was not a good one, so to cover my bets, I found the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment website which were selling the Argo orange jerseys on an individual basis where you could bid for the jerseys.

I won one of the Argo jerseys. I did not get anything for my raffle ticket for the Riders.

So, my friends’ son will not get a Rider orange jersey.

I am not saying the jersey raffle was fixed, but when I see the number of winners with the same name, either the Rider format is screwed or you only get stuff from the Riders if you put up a lot of money. Which is fine. If these are the rules the Riders are operating under, I have no problem not spending any money on future orange jersey raffles or Rider Hospital Lottery tickets since it seems the game is rigged towards those with big money.

That seems emblematic of how the Riders have operated under Reynolds

I can refer to the Riders selling game used jerseys and starting off at $300 a jersey, a ridiculous amount for a jersey worn by a back up or someone long out of town. The idea of paying $60 for a cap strikes me as ridiculous. So, does paying $9.50 for a beer although I talked with a former Saskatchewan resident who lives in Phoenix at practice on Wednesday and says the cost of a beer there is $24.

It is probably cheaper to buy a big screen TV, order in a pizza, pick up a dozen beer and watch friends as opposed to going to the stadium. Reynolds came in talking about sustained success, but his success in poaching Chris Jones and his staff from Edmonton did not result in any Grey Cup appearances and Jones, dedicated to himself, took a powder leaving us in our current situation.

That move by Reynolds led to the creation of the salary management system for football administration staff which has handcuffed the Edmonton Elk and the Riders this year. So, thanks for a gutsy move that penalized the team. Off the field the Riders are financially in good shape, but all of that may tumble down after this season. Reynolds might be better suited to moving to the CFL head office where he could help turn a profit by working with the public and private teams.

The Riders did better with a former player in Jim Hopson who understood the game and the impact of it on fans. Winnipeg got former players who are passionate about the game and refuse to accept losing. The Riders seem more interested in money than winning.

This week we have Calgary going to BC and hopefully moving into position to claim third place and put the Riders out of their misery. The problem is Calgary are not playing the Saskatchewan Roughriders, currently the worst playing team in the league. Calgary may benefit from the potential loss of Vernon Adams Jr. at quarterback for BC, but Dane Evans is good enough to lead the BC offense and the BC defense is fast, but vulnerable to the pass.

The ironic thing here is Calgary has no consistent receiving corps and if Calgary faces a competent offense, they will manage to make it close, but BC will win this one 27-23 to prolong the Riders agony. Edmonton goes to Winnipeg and a BC win will kind of put pressure on Winnipeg to keep pace. Winnipeg has clinched the season series with BC, and with two games remaining to BC’s one, even with a BC win, Winnipeg has two chances to clinch first. Edmonton has flipped a switch and will be a contending team next year.

This might be a game where the Elk send a message to the rest of the league in either being competitive or beating Winnipeg, but I can see Winnipeg winning this one and ending the slim BC Lion hopes of finishing in first with a 30-20 win over the Elk. So, it is fan appreciation day Saturday as the Riders host the Argos, and while the team touts’ prizes and fun, the real winners will be tumbleweeds blowing through Mosaic Stadium as attendance will be announced as higher, but I would say no more than 18,000. One factor that might make this interesting would be if Harris makes an appearance to try to spark a Riders’ team that has enjoyed a bowling night this past week.

If anything, Dickenson and his staff will try to pull out all of the stops to get a win this game to maybe hang on to a playoff spot that they have let slip out of their grasp the last seven weeks.

It might work if the Argos did not dress most of their starters, but even if they did that, the Argos are still more talented than the Riders.

The Riders reward their fans by recreating their fans by recreating their slide from last year with a Toronto 32-21 win.

by Greg Urbanoski

Riders look like Dead Men Walking in Loss – Riderville to Calgary

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