The Riders Upside Down

You've said it yourself. The CFL has been a bizarro world, crazy place, or even The Upside Down. Teams who have been good are losing while losing teams are winning. Every week CFL Pick 'Em is a gamble. All this time Rider fans are sitting here thinking, “When will the cloud of 2009 finally lift?” One sure has to wonder. We thought it did in 2013 but that was just an anomaly...a blip on the radar. Just when you think things are finally looking up -  Ridernation is chop blocked.

No flag on the play.

In case you missed it, the usually absent CFL Commissioner after an apparent two week investigation levied the biggest fine to a football club in the leagues history not only sending a message to the other 8 teams but making a spectacle of the Saskatchewan Roughriders as well.

Ridernation is the largest fan base in the CFL. We buy the most merchandise, travel while representing the //=S=// and fill other stadiums besides our own. Other fans want to be like us or have an intense hatred on for us because of it and the latter seems to be more and more true recently with other fans attacking us before we finally turn on ourselves as well. In 2010 Ridernation won the Commissioners Award and yesterday? …..Well it seems to me that Jeffrey Orridge called everyone associated with the Roughriders an embarrassment to the league.  Well sir, I think you have this upside down.  We sir, are the example of what a CFL club should be and others should aspire to be.  They WISH they could have a fan base as loyal as Ridernation.  You could learn from us.

Yes, we broke the rules.  Yes, we got caught.  Yes, we will pay the fine.

It's only 545 jersey's sold.

Now I don't pretend to know what has been going on. There's all kinds of rumours and speculation from extra players and practises happening to housing and

feeding of them as well as our beloved players afraid to speak out about it. I don't know about any of that but when Chris Jones says he was only following the practises of what's happened at other teams he's coached for then I believe him. The Saskatchewan Roughriders cannot be the only team to have tried out players and bent the rules a little. Bend but don't break, right? But that same Commissioner who says we are an embarrassment better be looking into all the other teams too. Ridernation should demand it.

Who Did This? (Thanks to @fakeGainer)

There's also another matter at hand. It seems like this “pre-practise” squad was common knowledge with everyone around the league except those right here in the easy to draw province. Seriously. None of us would have known a thing about it at all until the ruling if “wha-mpeder” Bo Levi Mitchell hadn't tweeted his rather lame attempt at a joke. Of course Ridernation came to the clubs defense. What did BLM expect to happen? Then to say he'll use that as motivation is just sad. My thoughts on this is just this: If he knew something was jinky then he should have taken the proper route to the CFL instead of spewing it on social media. If the Stampeders have any kind of social media rules like the Riders do then he should be fined for his unsportsmanlike conduct. It was not his place to comment on the operations of another team publicly.

Thirdly ( I wasn't numbering my points was I? Meh. ) It feels like there is a snitch or mole, if you will, among us. By that I mean that it seems that since 2013 or maybe even before that as if someone was out to get us. I must not be alone in this hunch because fans were not only asked to sign in at Riders practise thursday but to provide picture I.D. It also makes me think back to when Corey Chamblin was closing practises and banning the media. Perhaps he was on to something. Whatever it is...we are circling the wagons...your day is coming.

Riders gotta ride.

August 13^th the Stampeders are in town and whether we like it or not it has motivated ticket sales. For the first time this season we might have a sell out. It'll be a celebration in Ridernation of the 1980's. Players like Bobby Jurasin, Glen Suitor, Dave Ridgway, and the Pole-cat will be in town. Wouldn't it be amazing to re-inact “The Kick” from 1989? Heck, I don't even care if he can't make it. I just want to see it in this stadium before we say goodbye. I'll be there with my back combed hair, leggings and swapping out the blue eye shadow for the green. Green is the colour after all. I know you don't want to miss a moment of this epic farewell.

Trust me when I say the feelings you've had this week as hard as they are to endure will pass. The 13^th Man, Dewdney Dwight, Darian's Fault...it's all water under the bridge. Step away from Facebook, Twitter and Rider Fan page. Let's just be CFL friends and enjoy some good old fashioned football.

See ya at the game.

Go Riders.