10 MIDWEEK THINGS FOR REALTY ONE

1 – BYE, BYE LOVE: The Roughriders are off this week and, judging by social media, the #1 thing to do right now is criticize the team for declining attendance. One thing I’ve learned is that once a snowball gets rolling, it’s tough to stop but if there’s an attendance issue in the CFL, it doesn’t extend to Sask. The Riders’ home opener against Toronto was the highest-attended game in the CFL this year at 30,000+ (for the life of me I can’t find the exact number). Six days later Calgary was here and the game drew 29,000+ which is well above the league average. 

2 – HAVING SAID THAT: It’s inexcusable that every Saskatchewan Roughriders home game isn’t a sellout. If this province of a million people is as football-mad as people want to portray, then a 33,000-seat stadium shouldn’t be that hard to fill nine times per year. The Toronto Raptors have sold out 236 consecutive games which is very impressive. The next Riders’ sellout will extend their sellout streak to one (“1”). That’s on both the people of this province, and the team. Fans need a reason to go. They’re not obligated to. However from this blogger’s perspective, if you don’t go, it’s your loss. The new stadium is next level and the game experience is as good as it gets. I love it. 

3 – WHAT ME WORRY?: People are being overly harsh with their assessment of the 1-3 Roughriders. That criticism is coming from both the media and the fanbase. However I would submit: what else did you expect? During this bye, Head Coach Craig Dickenson and his staff are likely lamenting a couple of games that “got away” but a very wise man – John Lynch – once said “Your record is what you are”. The Riders are a good team, but they’re in a division of great teams. 

4 – DICKIE DEE: I marvel at the opinions from the Rider Nation during times like this. They’ll find any and all reasons to criticize, including why QB Zach Collaros isn’t with his team right now while Calgary’s injured QB Bo Levi Mitchell IS. (FWIW, they have different injuries and Zach is dealing with a serious head issue. Shame on those who are calling him out during this time). As for Craig Dickenson, I hear a lot that “he’s too nice” or “he reminds me of Jim Daley”. For one, I’d take the comparison to Jim Daley as a compliment,. For two, fans thought Chris Jones was a jerk and turned on the team while he was in charge. May I ask, who the hell do you want? 

5 – CHANGING OF THE GUARD: A fun question; is this current Rider regime a holdover of the Chris Jones era, or is it an entirely new age in the 306? That’s a tough one. From the GM perspective, it’s entirely new because Jeremy O’Day is his own man and will run the Riders his way. (The results of which are TBD). Meanwhile the coaching staff still really feels like a “Jones” staff. However perhaps that’s not giving enough credit to Dickenson for forging his own identity. And, as for the 1-3 record, did you expect much better at this point with all these changes? 

6 – THE GOOD NEWS: Usually it takes until the 6-game mark before the dust settles on a new season but some things are already becoming clear. Calgary and Winnipeg are in a 2-horse race for the 1-2 spots in the CFL West. Spots 3 and 4 are up for grabs between Edmonton, BC and Saskatchewan. That folks, means the Riders will be in the running until the bitter end unless the bottom completely falls out (which I don’t expect to happen under this braintrust). 4 teams from the West will make the playoffs. As for the East, it truly appears that it’s a 2-horse race between Hamilton and Ottawa.

7 – LEAGUE THOUGHTS: The CFL will miss Duron Carter when he’s gone. … The Argos are 0-3 but should be optimistic about where things are going under coach Corey Chamblin. In those 3 games, they’ve lost (in order) by 50, 25 and 1 points. Only an idiot can’t see that’s progress. … The Calgary Stampeders deserve better from that city. Under John Hufnagel, that franchise is excellence personified but they can’t come anywhere close to filling their stadium. The stadium itself is the worst in the league and any talk of getting a new one is a pipe dream. And far as the 2019 Grey Cup in Calgary goes, my contacts out there say it’s being done “on the cheap”. … Hats off to the Edmonton Eskimos for introducing $22 tickets, two games into their home schedule. They identified an issue and made immediate changes. That takes guts. Now, it’s up to Edmonton sports fans to hold up their end of the bargain. 

8 – ADDI GOLD: Former Blue Bombers 1st round pick Addison Richards of Regina is a media star in the making. The WR out of Sheldon Williams Collegiate has been doing colour on Rams broadcasts and made his Rod Pedersen Show debut this week. He’s candid, thoughtful and intelligent. There’s a lot of work in this media market for someone like 26-year old Addison, if he wants it. Kudos to Mitchell “Scruffy” Blair for giving Richards his first shot on Rams radio. You’ll be hearing lots from him in the years ahead, I’m sure. 

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS 1: Happy birthday today to Rider safety Mike Edem. … Former Riders DB Matt Elam was spotted at XFL tryouts in Tampa Bay last week. He’s a tremendous player whose departure here slipped under the radar. … We’ll be taking in our first CEBL game Friday night when the Saskatchewan Rattlers host the Hamilton Honey Badgers at SaskTel Centre. Can’t wait! … The NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush lost Jeff Cornwall in the expansion draft this week. “Corndog” scored the game-winning goal with 12 seconds left in the 2016 Cup-clinching game in Saskatoon. … If the economy’s that hard-up on the prairies, and fans can’t afford CFL tickets, why do the Rush, Roughnecks, Jets, Oilers and Flames sellout all the time? Just wondering. 

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS 2: We have sold Famoso Pizzeria in Downtown Regina. Thank you for your patronage! … Country Thunder looks like it’ll be a lot of fun! Enjoy. This will be the 5th consecutive that I’ve missed. I’ll get back there one day. … There’s a Junior A team in Meadow Lake, SK called the Mustangs and they play out of the Western States Hockey League? What? And there’s teams in Cold Lake, Edson and Barrhead, AB? WHAT? My hockey peeps tell me it’s not really Junior A, but the league calls itself that. … It’s time to get out to some Regina Red Sox games. They are the best bang-for-your-buck in town. … The Icehouse in White City won our Regina’s Best Burger poll on the RP Show this week. However the best one I ever had was a Mexi-burger at a Red Sox game, courtesy Valley Girls Catering. #2 was the Pizza Burger from Bon Burger. … There are few prettier places than around the Saskatchewan Legislature at 6:15 am on a summer day. … Life’s great. Hope yours is too!

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen