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.

Legends & Lore (aka The Hall of Fame Game)

Ages ago, months really, in the off season I had a discussion with my Rider Soul Sister (same team, different parents) about choosing which games we could go to, to increase our chances of meeting up this year. At that point in time, it must have been March when the Roughrider flex packs went on sale, RSS said “you want to go to the August 22^nd game for sure because it's the Hall of Fame Game.” And thus, I added that date to my flex pack shopping list.

I don't know how RSS knew this tidbit of important information but she did and I am glad. She is out of the Rider loop, as it were, because she lives amidst the Evil Empire but bleeds pure Rider Pride. Because RSS knew, I knew, and I waited patiently for the hype.

* Pin drops *

I saw a tweet mentioning tickets for the CFHOF gala dinner at the start of the CFL season. I looked into it but yikes, at $230 a pop, that's a lot of beans for Hubby to count at work to earn the moola for an evening out. I really wanted to go. I really did. To think of brushing elbows with some of the CFL's greatest of all time.....wow, just wow.

Time was passing. Still no one was talking about it. The second week of August I tweeted Rod Pederson, the Voice of the Riders, to ask if he was taking his show The Sportscage to Saskatoon to cover the HOF gala.

“Nope”.

FINALLY, the day of the Hall of Fame gala I started to hear rustlings of stories on CKOM and on CBC TV. Why wasn't this event talked about more? Why didn't anyone seem to care? And why wasn't anyone calling the August 22^nd Rider game against the Calgary Stampeders The Hall of Fame Game?

Shrugs.

Saskatchewan media – you failed. You failed fans. You failed the fine men who were inducted.

Who were these phenomenal people who now wear Hall of Fame jackets and have their faces cast for us to admire always? Leroy Blugh, Eddie Davis, Dave Dickenson, Gene Makowsky, Bob O'Billovich, Larry Reda, and Bob Wetenhall. You can read all about their careers on the CFHOF web page:  Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Living vicariously through Cody Whiteman.

Two of our very own Saskatchewan Roughriders were inducted into the Hall. Friday aka Game Day Eve there was an autograph signing at the Rider Store at Lawson Heights Mall. It was a no brainer that I'd spend a day of my summer vacation at the Rider Store. I secretly hoped Geroy Simon would happen to be there but alas, he was not. I had a near meeting with the GOAT in 2013 but I digress.....

I arrived and stood in line for a few minutes but the line was relatively short so I ventured into the Rider Store. There were some very nice Hall of Fame tee shirts so I purchased a couple to have signed. When I returned to the line there was only one lady waiting. She asked me a couple questions about who the other men were besides the Riders and I admittedly/shamefully did not know which of the other men they were.

Then it was my turn. I shook both their hands and smiled and as nervous as I was and always am when I've met players, I actually didn't spout nonsense this time. I told Gene how Hubby's cousin played football with him at the U of S and what Cousin Mark is doing now. I asked Eddie where he lives now and he was eager to tell me that he lives in Calgary and even when he played for the Riders travelled back and forth. Heck, they have those “Chinooks” there.....I'd even take winter there. Maybe. I ended my conversation with asking if they both would be at the football game Saturday and they said yes and that they hoped it went well.

* Fingers crossed *

The Roughriders sold out Mosaic Stadium for the tilt against the Calgary Stampeders. The weather was not going to be optimal. It was going to be chilly and there was a great possibility of rain. I wore three layers of clothing for the first time since February.

“When Riders make a comeback, what a story that will be.” John Chick

Well that story isn't being written just yet. I wanted it to be written. I wanted it to be legendary and rate right up there with the Black Out Game or the Labour Day Classic of 2007. It wasn't meant to be. Yet.

0 - 8

I saw an injury decimated passionate Roughrider team take on the defending Grey Cup champions and come within 3 points of winning. I saw a 3^rd string young rookie quarterback take a beating and get back up every time and keep pace with a Grey Cup champ and starting quarterback. I saw a first year punter attempt a 64 yard field goal when the opposing vet (*) never had to take a risk at all.

I'm not going to talk about moral victories, accepting mediocrity or coaching changes because I don't believe in any of that stuff. For those who rant about those things – it's exhausting – find a new crusade.

I will tell you that this Rider team has progressed greatly since week one. It just might not be the progression you expected or wanted to see. Didn't Coach Chamblin tell us at the end of the 2014 season that we would see a very different team in 2015? What I will say to you is that fans, and that's me included, need to change our perspective.....we need to have different expectations of this team. An attitude adjustment.

This is not the 2013 Riders. This is not even the 2014 Riders. And they are a far cry from the 1979 Riders. There are too many odds stacked against us and in spite of it all this team is competitive. No one is blowing this squad out. That's why today I have sore arms from clapping and a hoarse voice from yelling. That's why in two weeks at the Labour Day Classic I intend on doing it all again.

The men honoured at half time can attest to the down times in Rider Nation. Gene Makowsky, who had his entire 17 year career in Saskatchewan can tell you he never even considered he'd ever be a Hall of Famer. Imagine, these players today who are criticized.....they are the Hall of Famers of tomorrow.

The 2015 football season is an experience and not a destination.

Wouldn't it be a shame if you missed the journey because you couldn't deal with a little adversity?

The choice is yours.....do you want to be the fan riding on the bandwagon or the one running to catch the tail gate?

I am here. I am seat belted in. I believe. And I can't wait for the story to be written.