DAYTONA HOMES FRIDAY RODSERVATIONS

The SportsCage plane touched down at 2:00 am Friday as we returned from a week in beautiful Southern California and the Marlin Travel Ultimate Sports Trip IV.  We took 50+ listeners to L.A., San Diego and Anaheim for some time in the sun, sand and sports scene.  Today we have a photo-blog with the regular Friday notebook at the boom.

First off, the photo above is a shot from my seat on the motorcouch, right behind our driver Greg.  He’s a born-and-raised Los Angelan.  It brought back many memories of riding the bus during 17 years in the WHL.

I didn’t see as much of San Diego as I’d like, but the others did.  It was a whirlwind stop there and Monday was taken up by setting up for the SportsCage radio show.  San Diego bills itself “America’s Finest City” and perhaps it is.   It’s kind of an arrogant slogan – who knows if it’s even true – but they jumped on it first.  Just like Canada’s Team.  It’s all marketing.  And every city has its pluses and minuses.

The pool at our San Diego hotel…

Then it was back up the coast to Anaheim and the Honda Centre, formerly the Duck Pond.  What a magnificent structure, and well landscaped!  From the outside it’s more impressive than the Staples Center in L.A. but pales in comparison on the inside.

Next up was a visit to the Ducks Store.  Want game-used stick by Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen?  It’ll run you $500 US.

A Pats fan in the Ducks Store…

Rider receiver Chris Getzlaf set up a nice meet-and-greet with his brother Ryan of the Ducks, plus took some time to sign autographs himself.

Regina’s Ryan Getzlaf, tied for 7th in NHL scoring.  A legitimate NHL superstar…

Yours truly with the Getzlaf brothers.  They’ve always treated me so well…

Some of our group took in the Lakers and Sacramento Kings at Staples Center.  Kobe had 32 in a 98-95 Lakers win.

On the day of the game we snuck over to Huntington Beach for the afternoon.  It was, as always, fantastic.

Ducks girls take some time off in between skates..

The Ducks pretty much dominated in a 2-1 victory over the Oilers.  The stands were half full at the start of the game but filled up before long…

A panoramic group shot of our crew…

And another which I forgot to post on Monday.  This is our gang with Jarret Stoll of the L.A. Kings..

And another photo I forgot to post on Monday.  Friday evening at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory, hometown comedian Dane Cook jumped on stage and did a 45-minute routine by surprise.  Don’t know who Dane Cook is?  Well he’s got 3-million Twitter followers and is a star of stage and screen.  He still holds the attendance record at the Brandt Centre of 7100 a few years back.

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FRIDAY NOTES:

* As you can well imagine, it was a little difficult to keep our mind on the Roughriders given the fact we were so far away and they weren’t in the news (down there) but they were certainly front-and-centre here at home.

* It’s hard to believe the Riders’ offensive and defensive coordinators are both gone but that’s the way the season went.  At 8-2 they were the toast of the town but when Darian Durant went down, the season went down the tubes and deficiencies were exposed.  It would seem the finger’s being pointed at the coaches, not lack of talent.  That’s just an outside view.

* Was I surprised at these moves?  Many have asked that question so I’ll repeat my thoughts here.  I was 50/50 on guessing if George Cortez would be back.  It wasn’t a great offensive year yet I know how close George and Corey Chamblin are.  As for Richie Hall, that one came out of the blue but it became more clear when we learned Chamblin took over the defense for the final third of the year.  It would be very hard to imagine the Roughriders without Richie Hall so hopefully he stays with the club in some capacity.  Not to mention, when he goes into the Plaza of Honor, he shouldn’t have to feel awkward at the ceremony because of how things went down.

* It’s clear Chamblin is more concerned with winning than making friends.  The best always are.

* You may have noticed I’ve side-stepped this whole coaching issue the past couple of weeks because it’s a very difficult situation.  There are a lot of raw feelings around here these days.   I think the world of George and Richie and losing a job can be traumatic.  Especially when it’s so public.   Fans seem to forget that.  The league is buzzing about what Corey Chamblin’s doing in Saskatchewan but I know this; every single move Chamblin makes is designed towards winning, improvement, and doing what’s best for the organization.  The same goes for Brendan Taman.  That would seem elementary but that hasn’t always been the case with the Roughriders.

* Here are some interesting numbers regarding George Cortez’s tenure in Regina:

Record with Durant: 21-8, 72% winning pct
Record without Durant: 3-8, 27% winning pct
Durant record before Cortez (2011, 2012): 12-20, 37% winning pct
Kerry Joseph record before 2014: 5-26 in prior 31 starts

* I’m also leaving the “insider” stuff to Arash Madani and Dave Naylor because in the off-season after the 2012 season I broke a ton of stories but wound up in a pile of trouble.  In the end, no one really remembers who breaks the stories anyways.  It’s simply not worth the hassle.

* However I was told last week by a CFL person that I could bet a lunch on Paul Lapolice coming to Saskatchewan as their offensive coordinator so I’m going with that.

* However the caveat on that bet might be whether or not Lapolice goes to the B.C. Lions as head coach.  I don’t believe GM Wally Buono was ever serious about hiring Danny Barrett and it’s stunning to read Hamilton’s Kent Austin wouldn’t allow defensive coordinator Orlondo Steinhauer to interview for the job.  Why stunning?  Because the Riders let Kent out of a three-year contract one year in back in 2008 so he could go to Ole Miss.  It was a move the team regretted but they did it to be good guys.  Is this Steinhauer story true?  I don’t know but text messages to Austin’s camp have gone unreturned.

* We’ll go over all of this stuff on Four Seasons Football Friday on 620 CKRM when I’m joined by Scott Schultz, Arash Madani and Larry Mueller.

* One other note – there’s talk floating around that the Riders will make a major play for CFL Lineman of the Year Brett Jones when he becomes a free agent in February.  However I’ve been told to forget it.  He wants to try the NFL and if that doesn’t pan out, he’ll be back in Calgary.

* It was great to see the Regina Pats get an honourable mention in the CHL Top 10 on Wednesday.  To my recollection the last time the Pats were nationally-ranked was in 2007.  I remember it because late-November and then-head coach Curtis Hunt announced it at a team meal in Spokane.  The roof went off the room.  Minutes later my phone rang and it was a visibly shaken Carm Carteri on the other end.  He’d just gotten into a heated exchange with Wally Buono the day before the 2007 West Final.  Funny how those things stick with you.

* The Pats play only one game this weekend and it’s at Saskatoon on Saturday at 7 pm on 620 CKRM.  The crowds still aren’t great but as one hockey person pointed out at the last home game, “It’s coming”.

* Speaking of hockey people, last week when we were leaving Regina I ran into Peter “Silky” Sullivan of the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau on the connecting flight to Calgary out of Regina.  I asked him where he was headed and he said, “Calgary”.   I replied, “Me too!” He smirked wryly and then asked, “And then where?”  It was great to tell him we were headed to Los Angeles while wearing shorts and sandals.

* It may be very difficult for newcomers to get on the Sports Cage Ultimate Sports Trip V in 2015.  Preference will be given to returning people and this year 70% were returnees.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t try.  Some of the locations we’re tossing around for next year are Miami, San Francisco/Oakland, New Orleans and/or Nashville.

* We learned a lot, and saw a lot, during a week in Southern California.  One of the coolest things was New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft riding around Qualcomm Stadium on a golf cart shaking hands with fans of both the Pats and the San Diego Chargers.

* It was also interesting to learn the old L.A. Forum in Inglewood is getting a facelift and massive renovation.  Apparently either the Lakers, Clippers of Kings may move out of the Staples Center and back into the Forum because they’re all tired of sharing one facility.

* We’re lucky we’re getting a new football stadium in Regina and there are rumblings of a new hockey arena as well.  That’s very fortunate because as nice as Southern California is, some of their facilities are very rundown.  The Chargers’ stadium is inadequate and will never host another Super Bowl in its current state.  The Honda Center in Anaheim is cosmetically nice, but not very functional.  The legroom is abysmal.  And the scoreclocks in each Canadian NHL arena blow Anaheim’s away.  It’s interesting to see these stadiums and compare.

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I GUESS THAT’S ENOUGH FOR TODAY — THANKS FOR READING!
RP
@sportscage