Vert et Blanc

Coming up with a new and fresh blog every week is hard. It's certainly complicates things when your team is struggling or are win-less in the Riders case. I've maintained the theory that I'm not about stats because you can get that information from anywhere and everywhere else. I promise you that I will always have a unique view and often the female fan view of the game of football and this Saskatchewan Roughrider community owned team that I love and support with all my heart.

The only thing fans and media seem to be discussing is the Randy Richards hit on the Stampeders Tim Brown. I was holding down seat 8 in section 14 at that football game. What a unfortunate chain of events. However, from my seat and vantage point not only did I not know what had transpired but no one around me did either. We cheered as soon as we saw the stop. We had no idea who the player was. All we saw was Brown laying on the field. There was no replay shown on the Sasktel Maxtron. Then the refs announced the penalty and ejection and the wrong player number. THE FANS HAD NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED. When Randy Richards was escorted from the bench I stood and cheered again. I don't feel bad and I don't care what others think of me. Know this - I would never cheer if I knew someone was injured.  We knew at that point Tim Brown was not injured despite his dramatics on the field. I felt what happened in front of my eyes did not deserve anyone to be booted from the game. Richards was asked to do a job and he did it.

I know, what if that hit had been on a Rider player like Dressler? First, because I've seen too many missed calls on Roughrider players, I highly doubt there would have been a penalty resulting in an ejection. Secondly, Dressler would never have layed splayed out on the ground milking it for all its worth. No, he would have sprung up right away because that is the beast of a player that he is.

Then we find out Richards was fined the maximum penalty in a CFL hearing! The maximum penalty being half a game cheque?  

OH COME ON!

Shockingly, I agree with Arash Madani on Thursday's Sportscage. There is no consistency in the officiating in the CFL. I feel like CFL football fans have been shouting this from the rooftops forever. When will they listen to us?

Shrugs.

All we wanted was a pure definition of pass interference. The CFL's answer was to give us reviewable calls in 2014 while in 2015 they come up with a new contact rule. Did it make the referee’s any better? No. It gave them a way out instead because now they can just throw a flag without even really knowing if an offence was made. Sure teams have adjusted but it hasn't made the officials any more accountable. How ridiculous is it that every time you see a big play you have to look around to see if flags were thrown? It doesn't make CFL games a good product and it surely doesn't make it marketable in the US.

Have you seen the new goal posts in the NFL, by the way? Some of our kickers would never stand a chance making it through those narrow uprights. Yikes.

I'm not much of an NFL watcher at all. Collage football hasn't started yet. I tend to follow the Oregon Ducks and Boise State because I have family who live there. So...with this lull in activity...I started watching Friday Night Lights. I never watched it on TV, mostly because of my teaching lifestyle.....I miss a lot because of it. Here's what I have to say – I'm addicted and by the end of episode one I was in tears. If you watched it years ago, I'd urge you to go back and watch it again. Matt Saracen sure reminds me of Drew Willy, there is no debating Smash Williams is Kory Sheets and Buddy Garrity could sum up all of Ridernation's media sources in a car salesman nutshell.

So the Green Whites play the RedBlacks on Sunday in Ottawa. A couple weeks back Rnation was all in a tizzy over a billboard that was put up by the Roughriders organization. These billboards aren't anything new as the Riders have been putting them up in CFL cities for years but those in the Rouge Noir were sure offended. Meh. These days people are offended by pretty much anything and everything if you try hard enough to be. What I'm counting on in Sunday's match up is a good penalty free stupid mistake free Rider team and Bad Hank showing up.

HEEEEEEENNNNRRRYYYYYYYYYY.

It never gets old.

I never count this team out unlike some members of the media. It may seem I have a hate on for some of them but I really don't. I just want them to be better. Instead of using their voice, talent & position to condemn a team, why not use them to boost morale?! The season is not over. It won't be until the final whistle sounds on November 8^th. There's a lot of games to be played and this is the CFL where nothing is for sure and no lead is safe.

The most dangerous team is the one who has lost everything, has nothing left to risk and has the most to gain.

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose.

Riders, Flags, & Blue Grass

So I was right.  The Calgary Stampeders came out of Grey Cup 2014 victorious.  But it was close wasn't it? I must admit that when the TiCats got Banks running back that last punt I kind of said to myself "shoot, leave it to the Stamps to mess that up." Then I saw the flags.

HA HA!

Then I realized how similar a situation that was to our very own Riders 2009 occurrence.  Ack.  The cup no one likes to think about.  However, there was a main difference, in '09 the Riders had indeed won in regulation time.  The TiCats still had minutes left on the clock and the Stampeders were in fact faltering.  The emotion was very similar and one does have to feel for those players who's hearts lept in jubilation and then crumbled to the depths of despair.  The sun came up for Rider fans and I'm sure it still did for TiCat fans too.

The biggest news/rumours of Grey Cup was Dave Naylor and Jim Lawless breaking "news" during the pregame TSN show that there would be huge shake ups in the Riders organization including George Cortez,  Richie Hall and Baron Miles.  Huh? Wha?  Knowing what I know of these two "reporters", I took it with a block of salt.  What it did do was spur tons of speculation and rumour and all sorts of conversations in the Twitterverse.

Then nothing happened.

Nothing from the Riders.

*pin drops*

Then there was a tidbit of news.....

There were new retro license plates announced.

*eyeroll*

COME ON! Rider fans deserve better than that!

The news gradually emerged that George Cortez was not really let go.  His contract was up and it was decided that it was not being renewed.  It was also eluded to that all coaches would be evaluated and there was some truth to the Richie Hall rumours.  Wow.  How shocking is that?  I mean Richie is a Rider institution.  Plus no one ever doubted the Riders defensive scheme.

What an amazing man Richie Hall is.  I met him the year he returned to Saskatchewan after his Head Coaching stint in Edmonton.  He was gracious.  I told him I was glad he returned to us.  He smiled and said he was happy to be back. *beams* Richie was every bit as gracious in his media scrum this week.  It's part of the game.  It's part of what happens when you want the team to win.  As hard as it is to accept on a personal level that you've been demoted, when you believe you just do what the best interests are.  I'm not sure any other person or coach would be able to be so articulate and logical in such a circumstance.  Bravo Richie!

The hardest part is that from this fans point of view I want to scream NO IT'S SPECIAL TEAMS THAT NEEDS FIXING!!!!  But the sun still rises and there will be more off season changes that may be harder to accept.

Like 27 free agents.

Gulp.

Speaking of sun...or maybe sunglasses, rather, how about those Oregon Ducks? I've managed to catch two football games.  Wow they are exciting and fun to watch!  They actually remind me so much of our very own Riders last season.  You see, instead of moaning and groaning and whining about the CFL season being over, I've decided to get into something else and decided college football is it.

It's very easy for me to get behind the Oregon Ducks as well as the Boise State Broncos.  I've got family who lives in that area of the United States so it's fun to watch and be excited for them, after all they stay excited for the Riders for me.  But holy smokes, those Ducks uniforms are bright.  They have cool designs and about 100 different looks.  If that isn't your cup of huckleberry tea then it sure is fun to watch Boise State on the smurf turf.  It's not quite as hard on the eyes.

How do they make grass blue anyways?

*shrugs*

Apparently there are 4 college teams who have coloured turf.  Thank goodness green is the colour around here, eh?

Christmas is less than 3 weeks away.  It's a busy time for us all.  There likely won't be another blog post before Christmas.  I thank each and everyone of you who read this blog or follow and chat with me on Twitter (@smilingsandra).  You make watching football so much more fun and brighten many days.  I hope Rider Claus is good to you all and you find the best and magical surprises under your Christmas trees this year and have an amazing new year too!  Let's plan to paint Winnipeg GREEN!