THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. BACK TO SQUARE ONE: Caught most of the 2^nd half Saturday night on the drive home from a family wedding party. Listened to Derek Taylor and Luc Mullinder describe 22 unanswered Stampeder points between Moose Jaw and Pense, as the Stamps romped to a 37-10 win over the Riders. It felt like a record in futility even for this Rider fan who grew up in the wasteland of the 90’s.

But the reality is, it wasn’t the end of the game that sunk the Riders boat in Week 4, but rather everything which led up to that point.

Offensive Coordinator Stephen McAdoo and Quarterback Cody Fajardo just didn’t have an answer. Watching the replay of the game showed me more of the dink-and-dunk short passing nonsense that never works in Canada and got McAdoo in hot water with the fan base to begin with.

Fajardo is not a dink-and-dunk type QB either. He looks like a gunslinger. Time to cut him loose. Cuz if they don’t, the Riders have no shot. And I mean NOOOOOO shot.

2. WHERE IS ZACH?: I’ve been asked that a few times and saw a few comments online pointing out the fact Bo Levi Mitchell was there on the sidelines for his disciple, Nick Arbuckle, Saturday night to help wherever he could.

Zach Collaros has largely been nowhere to be seen during games throughout his injury time with the Riders.

Different type of injuries, I get it. But eventually perception becomes reality and if Zach can appear at promotional events that he gets paid extra for while he’s injured, like he did before last November’s west semifinal, than he can be there on the sideline or in the booth helping Cody Fajardo as well.

3. NEW GAINER: I didn’t notice and I still don’t care. Wake me up when this is over.

4. ARGO SCAPEGOAT: Chris Rainey deserved a hug after catching the B.C. Lions missed field goal try and stepping out the back of the Argo end zone to seal another Toronto Argonaut loss. I’ve watched that replay 6 or 7 times and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what he could have possibly done differently, other than maybe swat the ball down to the ground and try to pick it up before anyone else and then run it out of the end zone. But even that is dodgy at best. To his credit, Rainey was very courageous in facing the music with the media after. I think the Argos are a lot luckier to have him than he is to be with the Argos.

5. QUARTERBACKING NOT THAT IMPORTANT: The Stamps can win without Bo Levi Mitchell, the Ottawa Redblacks look good with Dominique Davis and Vernon Adams junior can beat the best team in the East.

VERNON. ADAMS. JUNIOR. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

This theme of the team being more important than just the QB is one I could get used to and makes our game so much more interesting.

6. RIDER NATION DOESN’T OWE CHAMBLIN: This ego-maniac cost us Richie Hall when he stripped away the defensive play-calling duties at the end of 2014. The Blue Bombers might be the best team in the league right now! I would love to see Richie Hall and Paul LaPolice win another cup but forgive me for vomiting in my mouth just a little if/when we see it happen with the Blue Bombers. Especially since both of them should have and could have been here.

7. REGINA RED SOX UNREAL AT HOME, SO-SO ON THE ROAD: 13-1 at home but 7-9 on the road including Monday night’s 3-0 shutout loss to the Swift Current 57s in what Swift broadcaster Ryan Switzer described as a “Good game. Playoff style.” The good news is, home field advantage in the playoffs would likely mean something for the Sox and with the majority of their 2^ndhalf games at home entering tonight’s matchup with the division leading Weyburn Beavers at Currie, 1^stplace is very much for the taking. The Sox are within 2 games of the Beavers with lots of head to head matchups to go yet.

This is one pennant race that should be worth watching.

8. DALBY FROM THE WOLF: Since I made my “The Wolf Needs Ballsy more than Ballsy needs the Wolf” quip in this space a while back, afternoon drive host, Dalby has been furious with me. He was just certain I was taking a shot at the rest of the wolf lineup. He even challenged me to come down to the studio, he was so angry. For the record, the hosts on the Wolf are hilarious and I regularly listen to Chad and Ballsy in the morning and, yes, Dalby too in the afternoon.

While visiting Sean Kleisinger, Derek Taylor and Nevin Chamney at the Harvard studios Monday night, I even popped into the Wolf Den to offer Dalby a truce by way of a hug.

He rejected the hug but appeared to accept my peace offering in front of a really confused looking Newscaster, McKenzie Reed.    

Here’s hoping one day they’ll me on air so I can let out my wolf howl I’ve been practicing since Bill and Jeff back in the day.

9. BEST RADIO HOSTS IN REGINA: MY92’s Mark Johnston does a great job and Leah Ramsey is hilarious on twitter. CKRM’s Colin Lovequist is a childhood favorite and Cody Glydon always reminds me to never take life too seriously. Woody from Jack FM is hilarious too and Buzz Elliott broke the story for Kent Austin coming home in 2007 only to let me take the credit for it so he’s pretty awesome in my books as well.

And what the heck, I guess we can throw Dalby in there too.

10. OJ SIMPSON: I see he’s on Twitter now. I grew out of being an online troll years ago but when the urge strikes, I think I’ll take it out on O.J. I think he can handle it. So, I’ve asked him if he still fights girls or not. I’ll let you know how it goes.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)