THE MONDAY MORNING GOALIE

ODDS ‘N ENDS:

* I certainly didn’t expect this. Well, the MMG did predict an 11-7 record and a second-place finish for Canada’s Team way back in the spring time, but I didn’t think that less than a week before the 2013 CFL Western Semifinal there would be as many as 15,000 tickets still available for the game. That’s a third of the stadium! Get yours by calling 1-888-4-RIDERS, visiting www.riderville.com or stopping by the Mosaic Stadium box office in person.

* The challenge I issued in Friday’s column to show your Rider Pride fell by the wayside. Out of 5,000 readers, only one sent in a photo and it was from four seasons ago! Although it’s a great one:

Blog Mailbag:

“Rod this picture is a couple years old but it has more meaning for me more then ever today as I write this. I took this picture the morning after we beat Calgary out of the west final in Regina. I was flying with Captain Jim Hastie, a true gentleman and all around great guy. As Jim is from Regina and I from Raymore, we flew together quite a bit, and if we happened to be flying while a Rider game is on, we would be listening to your broadcast in the flight deck as we crossed the prairies. The morning after we beat Calgary out, I asked Jim if he minded if I took this picture of me hanging out the window waving the flag in my Rider Jersey. Of course he didn’t care, he insisted on it!

Jim took his last flight this week after a short battle with cancer. He will be greatly missed.

Love the blog Rod, thanks for all your hard work. GO RIDERS!

Travis Linford”

* Anybody care to try and top that?

* I snapped a photo of CKRM Radio’s reception area for today’s blog entry. At least we’re in the spirit of Grey Cup at Harvard Broadcasting!:

* Seriously though, I’m sitting here writing you today asking Where’s The Hype? As of Saturday afternoon there were 15,000 tickets still available for Sunday’s playoff game. Peoples’ jaws hit the floor when I’ve told them that over the past 24 hours. I guess the 3-6 record over the final half of the regular season has taken the steam out of the Rider Nation.

* World’s Best Fans? Some are. However some are exactly the opposite. Which side do you fall on?

* Sellout or not, Mosaic Stadium is going to be a madhouse come Sunday when the BC Lions come to town. You think it was loud the last time BC was here? (Gary Etcheverry said the 35,000 sounded like 90,000) That was batting practice. Can anyone round up a decibel meter between now and Sunday? It would be nice to gauge the noise and perhaps set a record.

* Homefield has been a definite advantage in the Western Semifinal over the years. The home team was won the past four WSF’s but in the past decade the home team is just 5-5. The Roughriders will be looking to continue the trend Sunday afternoon at 3:30.

* Environment Canada’s long-range forecast only goes until Saturday but as of this morning it shows sunshine and zero degrees for the upcoming weekend. You really can’t ask for much better this time of year! It would be so nice to know what it’s going to be like weather-wise for Grey Cup weekend.

* Edmonton radio host Dave Jamieson (TSN 1260 radio) asked me on Friday if Corey Chamblin has had a Coach of the Year-finalist worthy season. I’d say yes, he has, because of the three win improvement, homefield in the playoffs, and the ability to manage all of the strong personalities, egos and talent in that locker room. But it doesn’t matter. Calgary’s John Hufnagel will take the trophy and was a unanimous winner on the TSN panel over the weekend. And as Ricky Bobby said, “If you’re not first, you’re last”.

Canada’s Team indeed

* A TSN employee informed me over the weekend that the Roughriders have an average TV audience of 852,000 on a weekly basis. That’s #1 in the CFL.

* Attendance is up. Ratings are up. The CFL is strong and it’s not going away. In fact it’s growing.

* Bodog’s Grey Cup odds:

Calgary: 8-5
Saskatchewan: 2-1
Toronto: 7-2
BC: 9-1

* The question came up last week that if the Riders and Argos met in the Grey Cup, what would be the traditional Mayor’s bet between Rob Ford and Michael Fougere? Someone suggested “Cracked Wheat”.

* On the topic of Grey Cup, congratulations to SportsCage analyst and Rider great Scott Schultz who’s been chosen to hand out the CFL’s 2013 Most Outstanding Defensive Player trophy at the Thursday evening CFL Awards. What an honour!

* Schultzie and I will also be broadcasting the Grey Cup parade live province-wide on Access/Shaw television and it will be streamed live at CFL.ca and Riderville.ca. Access said I could pick any colour commentator I wanted, and I went with the Old 96er.

* Back to the Roughriders. They entered Saturday’s game with a chance to make history. They needed to allow 24 points or less to set a franchise record for least points against over an 18-game schedule. The record was 393, set in 2003. Alas, the club allowed 30 against Edmonton and did not set a new mark. It’s a defensive statistic but unfortunately the Riders allowed 14 points via a pick six and a punt return touchdown.

* Rider coach Corey Chamblin did not seem overly upset about the loss, nor the special teams gaffe on the 79-yard punt return TD to win the game for the Eskimos. Chamblin said after the game they would have won it had they had their regular personnel on the field. Therefore, he does not seem concerned over the two-game losing streak which the club carries into the playoffs.

* Does Sunday’s game against BC scare you?

* The Lions have not yet named a starting quarterback and likely won’t until next weekend. “I think with BC their whole offense is designed around Lulay,” Rider linebacker Craig Butler, who got my vote for defensive MVP, said on our postgame show Saturday. “We’ve seen the other two guys this year, but not Lulay. Our defense will prepare for their offense. Whoever’s in at QB shouldn’t matter for us. We know what Lulay can do. He’s a Grey Cup champion and knows how to play this time of year. But for our defense, we just have to do our job.”

* In the end, George Reed’s records were safe. Kory Sheets did not catch him for the single-season record, and he tied George with nine 100-yard rushing games. Everything happens for a reason and it was not time for Reed’s records to fall. The football gods work in amazing ways. What do they have in store for the next three weeks?

* The CFL coaching carousel is about to get a spin with the end of the season for the Eskimos and Blue Bombers. The speculation in the league is both of those teams’ coaches, Kavis Reed and Tim Burke, will be shown the door.

It will be an unprecedented off-season for change, it would seem, with the Ottawa RedBlacks entering the league. RedBlacks team President Jeff Hunt told me in a text message over the weekend that, ideally, they’d like to have their head coach named before the expansion draft in mid-December. He also said the speculation is correct, that the best candidates are still employed and that’s why there’s been no action yet. Grey Cup week in Regina should be quite interesting in terms of Ottawa conducting interviews.

If it’s true Kyle Walters will be retained as GM of the Blue Bombers, then it wouldn’t surprise me to see Paul Lapolice return as head coach of the Blue & Gold. As one former CFL coach told me last week, “Lapo hired Walters in Winnipeg in the first-place”. The CFL is very much a “you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours” league.

And, if Kavis Reed is let go by the Eskimos, how long before he winds up in Winnipeg as defensive coordinator on a Lapolice staff? Those two worked together on the 2011 East Division champion Blue Bombers.

That would also open the door for Ottawa GM Marcel Desjardins to hire Marcel Bellefeuille as the franchise’s first-ever coach however one league insider said, “If Ottawa hires a bilingual coach just because he’s bilingual, that’s a mistake”. Also, as the speculation goes, if Ottawa was going to hire Bellefeuille, you would have thought they would have done it by now.

Hey, we’re just spit-balling here.

* While we’re on the subject of rumours, I woke up to a text message today that said the sale of the Regina Pats was completed over the weekend. Who knows? Like I said Friday, I’ll believe it when I see it but apparently Pats owner Russ Parker did spend the weekend at a Regina hotel. Stay tuned.

* Apparently the jersey retirement ceremony in P.A. Friday evening for Mike Modano was nothing short of spectacular. Here’s a pic of Modano guesting on 620 CKRM with the Voice of the Pats, Phil Andrews. What a thrill for the Thrill. Modano’s a guy I’ve heard nothing bad about and he’ll always be my favourite WHL/NHL player. Wish I could have been there Friday.

* The WHL power rankings are out by the major junior hockey writers association and the Kelowna Rockets are rated #1 in the Dub. The Prince Albert Raiders are the top Saskatchewan team, ranked 10th. Here are the rest: Swift Current (13), Regina (14), Saskatoon (15), Moose Jaw (18). The worst-ranked team in the Dub is the Lethbridge Hurricanes and they looked real bad last week by scoffing at the offer from NHLer Kris Versteeg to buy the team. A WHL insider told me the league may step in and force the sale, but I don’t think they can do that.

* The Stanley Cup ring of Regina-based Chicago Blackhawks scout Bruce Franklin. Isn’t it gorgeous!

* It was a treat to be “just a fan” at the Cougar mens and womens basketball games Friday evening at the University of Regina. I didn’t know much about either team, so I just cheered wildly for the Cougars. Not surprisingly the women knocked off the UBC Thunderbirds but it appeared to be a major upset when the men beat UBC as well. I was jumping up and down cheering with the Cougar parents until someone tugged on my sleeve and said, “UBC is severely depleted. This isn’t their real team”. I glanced at their bench and saw only three back-ups while the Cougar bench was stacked. Oh well, who cares? It was a huge victory for first-year coach Steve Burrows nonetheless. Sometimes it’s best when you don’t know all the behind-the-scenes details. Being a fan is great!!

* Tough week on NFL coaches. Denver’s John Fox was hospitalized with a heart attack in North Carolina while on a bye week. It appears Jack Del Rio will fill in on the interim. And a scary seen in Houston on Sunday when Texans coach Gary Kubiak collapsed at halftime. Stress much?

* Don’t miss Marc Trestman’s Chicago Bears at the Green Bay Packers in Monday Night Football this evening at the Press Box Sports Bar. You can enjoy a fantastic full rib dinner for just $9.99 plus you’ll get the chance to win a Bears or Packers jersey. Kickoff is 7:40 pm.

THAT’S ALL – ENJOY PLAYOFF WEEK!
RP
@sportscage