Rout the Riders

In Week 6 the Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the Toronto Argonauts 38 - 27 at home under scorching skies.  It was a pretty quiet up week with the only complaint being a lack of water provided at Mosaic Stadium.  That's how happy Ridernation was because no one complained at all about game points or coaching or quarterbacking. In Week 7 though, it's a different story and Ridernation has an insatiable thirst to chase someone out of town and they don't even care who it is or why.


I am well aware that I, too, in fact am a member of Ridernation, but it is times like these where I hang my head in shame as other fan bases...especially the Bombers...point and laugh at us.  Do you know how you sound on the radio? Do you know what your words look like hanging out there on the Facebook pages, Fan forums & Twitter posts?  They're right because we are not the best fans in the CFL.  We are however, the brunt of the jokes of the CFL.


When will they figure out Glenn isn't good anymore.  Well let's see. During the game in BC against the Lions Roughriders starting Veteran Quarterback crossed the milestone of being the 6th All Time in CFL Passing Yards.  It took Roughrider legend Ron Lancaster 19 years to set the record and it took Kevin Glenn 17 to check that box off his career stats list.  It's rather fitting because just as it was known the Little General would inevitably throw a few interceptions so will Kevin Glenn. This doesn't mean he's not good at his job...it just means that he's human.  It means he had a bad day at work.  We all have those!  I've had days where all I can do is laugh because of the messes I've made for myself.  Do I get fired though? Nope. Not even when I single handily broke a piano!  All you can do is get home, regroup, plan and pick yourself up for the next work day.  I have no doubt that once the Riders offence has a chance to watch game film that they will learn and regroup as well.


The most popular guy in the province is the backup quarterback.  Seeing quarterback Brandon Bridge in the dying minutes of the game setting the Riders up to score two touchdowns has created a bit of an uproar.  He played against the Lions 2nd and 3rd stringers and probably executed a set of package plays designed just for him.  For some reason this now means that within Ridernation Bridge should be anointed the starter and march us on to victory.  I could see giving him and Marquise Williams a look if we were at the tail end of the season...which, thankfully we aren't, so at this point unless something were to happen to Kevin Glenn (knock on wood) we stick with the guy who has already won us 2 games.


How long until we shake up the coaching and administration. That statement along with "Jones wears too many hats" or "we need a defensive coordinator" is ludicrous.  Remember!  We just finished Week Seven!  When I look around the league these statements aren't being said by fans of other teams.  Jacques Chapdelaine is the Head Coach of the Montreal Alouettes and their record is 2-4.  Should Jacques be fired?  Rick Campbell is the Head Coach of the Ottawa Redblacks who are coming off a 2016 Grey Cup victory yet seem to find themselves with only 1 win so far in 2017.  Should he be fired?  Lastly, let's look at Kent Austin who has had more than plenty of time to prove himself as Hamilton Tiger-Cats Head Coach.  Fans of the Ticats would have the best case for this argument since they are winless in 2017.  But no, here are the Rider fans trying to march Chris Jones out of town. 


The reason Chris Jones will never be good enough for some fans (not me!) is because of how he came in and made drastic changes and didn't give a rats patootie what Ridernation thought of it.  For that I applaud him!  If it were up to Ridernation all the favourites would be here forever, no one would ever get traded and we'd bankrupt the organization to pay them whatever they wanted.  The fact is this 2017 team is already better and surging but with any growing also comes growing pains.  You win some and you lose some.  By August 4th 2016 the Riders only had 1 win and didn't go on to get another until the end of September and finally finished 5-13.  This same time period in 2017 and we already have 2 wins.  Could the team be better? Of course and they will be the first to admit it, but should anyone lose a job over it? No way.


Where would we be without social media.  It's so easy to post what you think you think.  Then someone "likes" it.  Then someone comments.  It's a conversation and sometimes more often than not, it's piling on.  I have to hold my tongue and restrain myself from commenting at the best of times for fear of 'starting something up.'  It shouldn't be that way.  We are all passionate fans.  Sometimes we are fans of the same team and sometimes we're just fans of teams in the same league.  Twice in the last week I've had the pleasure of being acquainted with new CFL fans through Twitter.  They live in the US and enjoy CFL football.  How amazing is that?!  Lot's of games have been carried on ESPN3.  While after an upsetting loss like Saturday is maddening, bringing new fans into the mix is exciting! 


Is Rider Pride alive and well? I don't know about you but it is in me.  This mornings message in church was about new beginnings.  Let's put this game behind us and start anew.  The BC Lions visit our glorious new home Sunday August 13th 6pm, new CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie will be on hand and I'm full of excitement because I've got pregame sideline passes.  Let's show those Leo's what Ridernation and Rider Pride is really about.  The Rider Store has fabulous new noise makers...you're going to need one.