THE WEDNESDAY THRILLER … WITH PHIL ANDREWS
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| Voice of the Pats Phil Andrews |
What a week, and it wasn’t all good in the world of sports.
THE GOOD: The Pats look solid to start the year. The Riders win the Banjo Bowl. The NFL season starts with some great games.
THE BAD: Darian Durant out for the season and the Ray Rice fiasco.
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I’m forever the optimist so let’s start with the positives.
The Regina Pats went 1-1 on the weekend in preseason play and are now 4-1 overall. Yes I know its only the preseason but it’s hard not to get at least a little bit excited for this team.
My biggest question coming into this season is where the goals were going to come from in the absence of Dyson Stevenson, Chandler Stephenson and Boston Leier? Well I can tell you this team hasn’t struggled to score goals so far. The team has scored 30 goals in 5 games; they had just 16 goals in 5 pre-season games in 2013. I’m not saying that’s automatically going to transfer into the regular year but there is promise in that area. That promise is led by Sam Steel, the 16 year old has 6 goals and 10 points in the three games he’s played and leads the WHL in pre-season scoring.
Connor Gay has 6 points while Adam Brooks, Chase Harrison and Max Kammerer have 5. Not to mention Morgan Klimchuk hasn’t played a game and there are 7 other guys with at least two points.
The defence has looked pretty good as well. Chase Harrison leads the WHL in plus/minus at 9. Sergey Zborovskiy is tied for 3rd and plus 7. Plus Daniel Wapple looked real solid on Saturday against the Wheat Kings.
The Pats host the Prince Albert Raiders Wednesday night at the Co-operators Arena at 7 o’clock on 620 CKRM.
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The Riders picked up their 7th straight win on Sunday in the Banjo Bowl. It’s the first time since 1970 and the first time ever it happened during the regular season for the Green and White. The special teams took a big step forward which was good to see. The defence made big plays which we have come to expect and the offense ran the ball at will.
Heard a lot after the game that the media in Winnipeg are on the Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea about the inability to stop the run game. Yes it’s something the Blue and Gold needs to address but from my standpoint every team in the league can’t stop the Riders run game. They literally have been unstoppable.
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What a great start to the NFL season this weekend! The New Orleans-Atlanta game was just fantastic with the Falcons winning in overtime. I enjoyed the Denver-Indianapolis game on Sunday night and spent 6 hours on my couch Monday watching the Giants take on Detroit and then the Cardinals and Chargers. Helps that I went 2-1 in my three fantasy leagues.
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On to the bad. I feel terrible for Darian Durant for having to miss the rest of the season. He’s one of the best we have ever had here in Saskatchewan.
That being said I don’t think the season is lost. This team hasn’t relied on quarterback play to get them to 8 and 2. It’s all about the run game and the defence. They will still make the post season in my opinion and there is a small possibility Durant could be back by then.
Not cool to hear the Bomber fans were jeering Durant and happy he got hurt on Sunday. Not a classy move. That being said I won’t let that determine my opinion on the entire Bomber nation. Just like it wasnt the entore Rider nation that threw beer cans at the B.C. Lions two years ago.
Looking forward to seeing what Tino Sunseri can do.
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Ray Rice is done in Baltimore and could very well never play in the NFL again. It astounds me that the league and the Ravens dropped the ball when it comes to dealing with the whole situation. I find it hard to believe that law enforcement or the NFL did not see that video depicting the knock out punch prior to Monday. The cops would have had that as soon as they started their investigation. Looks like a massive cover up attempt from where I sit. How it was ever thought to be OK that Rice would not see any legal repercussions and only a 2 game suspension is beyond me. As the Vancouver Suns Cam Cole wrote “What a world.” He sums up the whole ordeal well here:
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Now back to some good stuff. I had the pleasure of being at the Luther College High School on Tuesday morning for the unveiling of their brand new 17.3 million dollar facility. It includes the new Semple Gymnasium which is fantastic by the way. The gym was given its name for Gavin and Shawn Semple who donated part of the 10 million plus dollars raised for the project. The Semples are part owners in the Regina Pats. Here is a good picture at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Shawn and Gavin are 4th and 5th in from the left.
That’s it from me today, talk to you from the rink Wednesday night.
Phil
@PhilTheThrill18
(To sponsor the Wednesday Thriller email ridervoice@yahoo.ca)
#winfor4
The sad part of the Ray Rice saga is that he WILL be back in the NFL. He will likely sit out the rest of the year but after that he will have the NFL in court saying his penalty was excessive. The league is being unreasonable in not allowing him to pursue a living. He will say he made a bad mistake but he shouldn't be given a life sentence for it. You will probably see him enter anger management classes so it will look good in front of a judge.
I can hear it all playing out already.
Thank you for the link to Cam Cole's article. But let's keep this incident in focus. Spousal abuse/ wife beating is NOT a female problem……it is a MALE PROBLEM.
Furthermore, compared to the reaction to Todd Bertuzzi's attack on Steve Moore, I find it interesting that a Vancouver writer takes such a hard stance on violence. Ken
Ray Rice deserves to be playing in the NFL. 1700 players in the NFL and 20 were arrested on various charges. That is a 1% of the staff. If you care to wonder over to the City of Regina, SaskPower, or SaskTel, what percentage of their employees have off work charges? These people do not lose their jobs provided it can be shown it is not directly impacting the organization. There are other factors to consider in making those decisions, but the punishment has to fit the crime. Ray Rice's wife is standing beside him. It was a situation that… Read more »
Phil. The beer can throwing was 2008.
A violent contact game played with athletes loving contact working their bodies chemically and physically to survive and deliver violent contact. They are trained psychologically to administer violent contact yet when it occurs in their daily life people are shocked and surprised. This is the ugly side of football and like concussions it can be ignored and rationalized away.
With this Ray Rice situation and suspension, it would have been interesting to see how Kory Sheets' domestic battery charge would have been dealt with if it would have been a year later.
http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Kory_Sheets_11467454/
As far as Korey Sheets goes. If the court dismisses the charges in its entirety. Who is the CFL or NFL to be over and above the court of law. In both Country's you are innocent until the court proves you are guilty. Had Sheets been found guilty of the charge his time in the CFL and NFL would have been over.
Reginald of Regina
The Kory Sheets issue is no different than Ray Rice. The only difference was the NFL had a massive national media outcry. Where in Regina which is typical; people will sell their souls for a Grey Cup. The Riders simply could have cut him, they chose not to. No different than last season when Taj Smith and Dwight Anderson got into their mess up. The team knew DA could help them win a Grey Cup. The people knew he was to important. However when Roy Shivers was bringing in his guys they couldn't pound on him enough. I was the… Read more »
Wow, Obama is one very misogynist person. What a creep!!
Obama.Your stupidity towards marijauna is ludicrous. I dont smoke the crap but your suggesting its like alcohol when operating a motor vehicle. Give your head a shake.To stick your nose in the domestic violence ring as to why men hit women shows your ignorance and makes you look like a chauvinist. I dont care if she says shes going to cut your nuts off. No man ever has a right to hit a woman. Dont pretend to be a know it all because honestly you dont really know shit! Its obvious because you have entered into an area that even… Read more »
The mentality presented by the post by Obama is either a sick spoof, or the guy is totally ignorant about domestic violence. he presents a shameful apology for violence against women and illustrates the ways some people have to rationalize the undefensible.
Not siding with anybody. No man ever has a right to hit a woman and no woman ever has a right to hit a man.
Soooo, just to clarify Obama…
Marijuana bad..
Domestic assault ok if they have it coming…
THE SEAGULL IS BACK RODDY (epic line from yesterday's sportscage, I just about hit the ditch I was laughing so hard)
To clarify, When provoked and under imminent threat and harmed first i.e, spit in the face then yes Ray Rice had every right to tee off on her and put her in her place. Mind altered under the influence of a substance is bad due to the harm it could cause innocent bystanders. You have no business sticking your nose in other people's domestic issues. Mind your business. This garbage about a man has no right to yada yada save it. She was beaking off, wouldn't shut up, spit in his face and he handled the situation. All the NFL… Read more »
Holy F!!!! and you are buddies with this Obama character Rod Pedersen?
Rod, I think that this Obama is going too far in advocating violence against females. Calling female Rider fans "pigs" and saying they deserve "a good smack" etc is not something that belongs on your blog's comment site.
It may be his stab at satire, but it involves a subject that is beyond making fun off. His comments are sickening! I know your administrator delete other comments. How does his post not cross the line?
Obama you are seriously F'd up!
Your state of mind is why there is domestic violence today.
Please people listen…
If someone is acting crazy you walk away, you leave, you remove yourself. It dosent give you a right to use violence. Let an authority figure deal with them.
Rod, come on, this is troubling that you post this.
This guy just said "I see how those pigs act in the stands, they're worse than the men, and a good smack should have been administered long before hand."
Obama's not Obama, he's a guy who lies behind a fake name.
If you're going to post his comments, at least make him use his real name. You know mine.
Rod I understand this Country allows freedom of speech. However what that Obama character is writing calling Women pigs in the stands at mosaic as well as suggesting they should have been put in place long ago treads right along the lines of a hate speech